R. K. Narayan

1906–2001

R. K. Narayan invented Malgudi, a south Indian town that does not exist, and wrote fourteen novels set in it over fifty years. He wrote in English, about people who would not have spoken it, and made that seem natural.

Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts, The Financial Expert, The Guide, The Man-Eater of Malgudi. The Guide won him the Sahitya Akademi Award and was filmed in 1965 - he disliked the film and said so at length. Graham Greene found him his first publisher.

Dates and credits from Wikidata.