R. Raj Rao Biography and latest books by R. Raj Rao

R. Raj Rao is an author, teacher of English literature and "one of India’s leading gay-rights activists." His work of fiction, The Boyfriend, which released in 2003, is one of the first gay novels to be published from India. Rao was also one of the first recipients of the Quebec-India awards.


R Raj Rao was born in Bombay. He did his PhD in English from the University of Bombay and did his post-doctoral research at the Centre for Caribbean Studies, University of Warwick, U.K. He has also attended the International Writing Program, Iowa, in 1996. His works include Slide Show (poems) Whistling in the Dark (nonfiction) and Hostel Room 131 (novel).


Currently he works as a professor of English at the University of Pune. Rao is openly gay. On the recurring theme in almost all his works, Rao says: "I am a poet, novelist, playwright and writer of non-fiction. Similarly, my teaching and research interests in queer theory and queer literature are a direct and natural outcome of my being gay and imaginatively tackling the subject in my fiction, poetry and plays."


Poems from Rao\'s BOMGaY collection served as the basis for Riyad Vinci Wadia\'s film Bomgay, which is said to be India\'s first gay film. Boyfriend is a tragi-comic love story, filled with irreverent, dry humor and devoid of sentimentality.