|
Meera Syal was born in 1963 near Wolverhampton in the West Midlands.
Aware of her racial difference from an early age, Syal is proud
of her Indian roots and culture. She was educated at Manchester
University where she read English and Drama. In the final year of
her drama degree, she co-wrote and performed in the play One of
Us, which won the National Student Drama Award.
Since then Syal tried her best to combine writing and acting as
her career. Today, apart from being an accomplished novelist she
is also known for her acting work on radio and television, notably
Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No 42.
At the age of 36, she wrote her first novel capsulating her childhood
experiences of growing up in a small mining community. The novel,
Anita and Me (1996) was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction
Prize and won a Betty Trask Award. Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee
(1999) is her second novel.
Syal also wrote the script for Gurinder Chadha’s Bhaji on the
Beach, a film that portrays a Birmingham-based South Asian women’s
collective and their day-trip to Blackpool.
|
