- She was awarded the Italian honor of Alberto Monrovia Literature Prize in 1999 for her services and contributions to literature.
- She was a finalist for the Booker Price in 1980 for "Clear Light of Day," 1984 for "In Custody," and 1999 for "Fasting, Feasting.".
- She was awarded the Neil Gunn Price in 1993 for her services to literature.
- She is the mother of author, Kiran Desai.
- She was awarded the 1978 National Academy of Letters Award and the Winifred Holtby Memorial Price for "Fire on the Mountain".
- She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in London.
- She received the Guardian Award for Children's Fiction for the novel, "The Village by the Sea" published in 1982.
- Her father was Indian and her mother was German.
- She is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
- She has taught at Girton College and Smith College in England, and at Mount Holyoke College in the United States.
- She earned her Bachelors of Arts Degree from Delhi University in 1957.
- She teaches one semester per year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (March 2007)
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