“I always think first about the nature of the story. When I had the idea for 'The Namesake,' I felt that it had to be a novel - it couldn't work as a story.”

British-American author

Jhumpa Lahiri is a British-American author known for her short stories, novels, and essays. She writes in English and, more recently, in Italian. Her work spans fiction and nonfiction, and she is especially associated with concise, carefully observed prose. Alongside her English-language writing, she has also published in Italian, broadening the language of her literary work.