Bapsi Sidhwa was born in 1938 in Karachi into an eminent family. Her parents Peshotan and Tehmina Bhandara belonged to the Parsee community which she has described with such warmth and humour in her novels

The Crow Eaters

, (London, Jonathan Cape, 1980)

Ice Candy Man

(London, William Heinemann, 1988; reprinted as

Cracking India

Minneapolis, Minnesota; Milkweed Editions 1991) and

An American Brat

(Minneapolis, Minnesota, Milkweed Editions, 1993). Soon after Sidhwa was born her family moved to Lahore. The city is central to her four novels, including

The Bride

(London, Jonathan Cape, 1983). In Lahore, however, there were few Parsees and the Bhandara family was cut off from mainstream Parsee life. Their mother tongue was Gujerati, but they were also involved in the Urdu and Punjabi culture of…

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Citation: Shamsie, Muneeza. "Bapsi Sidhwa". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 July 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5149, accessed 03 October 2024.]

5149 Bapsi Sidhwa 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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