Manuscripts for Anita Desai's published works make up a significant portion of this collection, which also includes materials concerning public appearances, awards, and writings about her works. The collection is organized into two series: I. Works, 1958-2013; and II. Career Related Materials, 1962-2013.
The Works Series is divided into four subseries: A. Major Works, B. Short Stories, C. Introductions and Prefaces, and D. Articles and Reviews, with items within the subseries arranged alphabetically by title. Included are manuscripts and typescripts in various stages of editing and revision, such as Desai’s award-winning novels
The Career Related Material is also divided into four subseries: A. Speeches, Interviews, Lectures, and Radio; B. Honors and Public Appearances; C. Articles and Reviews of Desai; and D. Correspondence, Finances, and Other Papers. Included are materials from the PEN International Writer's Day conference and the Flair Symposium, both from 1994. Present as well are her honorary degrees, in addition to publicity materials from her awards, including the Royal Society of Literature Award in 1977 and the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2007, and clippings on her works and career from around the world. Correspondence in this series is more general and does not address any single work, and includes letters between Desai and her first English publisher, Peter Owen. Her royalty statements and tax information are also present along with subsequent correspondence.
The collection does not contain materials related to Desai's personal life or her career as a professor, though it does several theses written by students on the subject of Desai’s work. Access to those papers is restricted.
Purchases, 1989-2013 (R11751, R12773, R13947, R16481, 13-10-003-P)
Open for research. Researchers must create an online Research Account and agree to
the Materials Use Policy before using archival materials.
Jonathan Reynolds, 2007; Elizabeth E. Preston, 2017
Additional Desai materials at the Ransom Center are present in the Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Records and the Peter Owen Ltd. Records.
Books, digital material, moving images, and sound recordings have been transferred to other collections within the Ransom Center.