Introduction
Sunetra Gupta (born March 1965) is a novelist, and professor of Theoretical Epidemiology at the University of Oxford with an interest in infectious disease agents that are responsible for malaria, HIV, influenza and bacterial meningitis. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award.
Education and early life
Sunetra Gupta was born in Calcutta, India to Dhruba and Minati Gupta. She trained in biology, holding a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from Imperial College London.
Career and research
Gupta is currently Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford. She sits on the European Advisory Board of Princeton University Press.
She has been awarded the Scientific Medal by the Zoological Society of London and the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award for her scientific research.
Gupta's portrait was on display during the prestigious Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibitionalong with leading female scientist such as Madame Curie in July 2013.
In 2020, Gupta was one of the Oxford University team, who published their models for the coronavirus pandemic.
Fictional work
Gupta wrote her first works of fiction in Bengali. She was the translator of the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore.She has published several novels in English. In October 2012 her fifth novel, So Good in Black was longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.
Her novels have been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Southern Arts Literature Prize, shortlisted for the Crossword Award, and longlisted for the Orange Prize. Her novels include:
- Memories of Rain. Penguin Books India, New Delhi 1992, ISBNÂ 978-0-14-016907-2.
- The Glassblower's Breath (1993)
- Moonlight into Marzipan (1995)
- A Sin of Colour (1999)
- So Good in Black (2009)