Regarded as a practitioner of a nascent Mofussil Literature in the early nineteen- nineties by critics, her work has been written about by famous authorities like the late Meenakshi Mukerjee, Rajeshwari Sunder Rajan, Shyamala Narayan and Harish Trivedi. Over a period of two decades, her books have been widely reviewed in Indian and international papers and magazines including The Journal Of Commonwealth Literature, The Hindu, India Today, Outlook, The Week, The Economic Times, The Financial Express, Femina, The Open Magazine, The Telegraph, The Statesman, Gentleman,The Deccan Herald, The Pioneer, The Hindustan Times, Livemint, The Times Literary Supplement, U.K., The Times of India, and many more. There are entries on her work in 'The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Women’s Writing' edited by Lorna Sage, Germaine Greer and Elaine Showalter, the 'Routledge Encyclopaedia of Postcolonial Writing' and in 'Companion To Indian Fiction in English, edited by Pier Paolo Piciucco,and in 'Indian English Literature 1980 -2000, - A Critical Survey' by M.K.Naik and Shyamala Narayan.There are a few Indian anthologies too containing critical studies on her work.
She has conducted Creative Writing workshops for the Sahitya Akademi and the Central University of Rajasthan, done writing programmes for I.I.T. Delhi and the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, been Writer-in-Residence at the Universities of Kent and Stirling, researched and worked on a BBC film on British ancestral histories in India , aired internationally on August 16, 2010. Her novel 'Sikandar Chowk Park' was covered by NDTV’s programme Just Books in 2006. She has lectured and given readings in many prestigious fora including The Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla and The Jaipur Literary Festival. She has also been an invited U.G.C. Fellow at the Jamia Millia Islamia and at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. An active story-teller about city lore, her pieces on the oral narratives, local legends and the multi-lingual poetry and prose and collective confabulations of a city's individual and shared memories are widely read and enjoyed by social media enthusiasts with Allahabad roots all over the world.
BIBLIORETTO
Neelum Saran Gour
Indian English fiction writer and academic, Neelum Saran Gour is the author of 'Grey Pigeon And Other Stories',' Speaking of 62,' 'Winter Companions And Other Stories',' Virtual Realities', 'Sikandar Chowk Park' and 'Song Without End And Other Stories', all published by Penguin India. She has published a postcolonial parody mimicking the authorial voices of Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle and P.G.Wodehouse ,with an Indian twist to the theme, called Messres Dickens, Doyle And Wodehouse Pvt. Ltd., published by Halcyon Books. She has also translated her novel 'Speaking of 62' into Hindustani in 'Baasath Ki Baatein', published by Penguin- Yatra, written a critical study of Raja Rao entitled 'Raja Rao’s Metaphysical Trilogy' and edited a pictorial volume on the history and culture of her city, Allahabad,called 'Allahabad Where The Rivers Meet' , published by Marg Publications. Her work has appeared in several anthologies and journals and she has been an active book reviewer for the TLS and The Indian Review of Books. She has also been a humour columnist for the Allahabad page of Hindustan Times for a year.
Her work has been published in numerous international and national volumes which include 'Desert In Bloom' (Pencraft), 'Growing Up As A Woman Writer' (Sahitya Akademi and Sage Publications), 'Fear Factor' (Picador India and Picador Australia) 'Only Connect '(Brass Monkey, Australia, and released in an Indian edition by Rupa Publications) ,'The Creative Process – Seven Essays', edited by Jasbir Jain, and 'Indian English And Vernacular Literature', edited by Makarand Paranjape and G.J.V.Prasad. Her works in the pipeline are a novel entitled 'Invisible Ink' to be released by Harper- Collins in 2015, Allahabad Aria, a collection of short stories to be released by Rupa Publications, and a work in progress entitled 'Requiem in Raga Janaki'. Her forthcoming books include a literary history of Allahabad University called 'Three Rivers And A Tree- The Story of Allahabad University', where she works as Professor of English.