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Manil
Suri
Author. Mathematician. Professor.
Manil Suri is the author of the forthcoming memoir, A Room in Bombay, three internationally acclaimed novels, The Death of Vishnu, The Age of Shiva and The City of Devi, and a book on popular mathematics, The Big Bang of Numbers: How to Build the Universe Using Only Math.
He has served as a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and is a distinguished university professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is a passionate promoter of both mathematics and the humanities, and has motivated audiences worldwide to embrace both, rather than just one or the other.
Manil was born in 1959 in Mumbai and came to the US as a graduate student in 1979. He obtained a Ph.D. in mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University in 1983 and has been a faculty member at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, ever since. His mathematical research has been in the field of finite elements – please read his 2024 article in Scientific American for an accessible description. He has received multiple honors in his academic career, including research grants from the US Air Force and NSF, and a Presidential Teaching Professor award from his university.
Manil’s years-long avocational interest in writing resulted in his first published fiction, The Seven Circles, appearing in the New Yorker in Feb, 2000. His debut novel, The Death of Vishnu, was released worldwide in 2001, and became an international bestseller. He followed this with The Age of Shiva in 2008 and The City of Devi in 2013; together, this triptych represents the present, past, and future of India, viewed through the prism of Hindu mythology.
Drawing on his parallel careers in writing and math, Manil decided to start creating synergy between the two. His viral 2013 New York Times opinion piece How to Fall in Love with Math led to an appointment as a contributing opinion writer for the newspaper in 2015 (in which capacity he published several pieces on India, math and gay rights). His co-written play, Mathematics and What it Means to be Human was performed at multiple venues, including a 2016 production at the University of Pittsburgh. His 2022 book, The Big Bang of Numbers: How to Build the Universe Using Only Math, was the first math book to be nominated for any PEN award.
Manil’s work has been translated into 27 languages. His latest book, the memoir A Room in Bombay, is inspired in part by over 2,700 letters he wrote to his parents in Mumbai after coming to the US. In addition to delivering prestigious lectures such as the Blazer Lecture in the Humanities (Univ. of Kentucky), the John Maddox Lecture (Hay-on-Wye, UK, sponsored by the journal Nature), and the Victor Bearg Science and Humanities Lecture (CMU), Manil also performs stand-up comedy. He lives with his husband in Silver Spring, MD.
Current Life
Manil lives with his husband in Silver Spring, MD.
His latest book, A Room in Bombay, is inspired by over 2,700 letters he wrote to his parents in Mumbai.
Fun Fact: He also performs stand-up comedy.
Manil writes and lectures extensively on India, Mathematics, and LGBTQ issues, bringing a unique intersectional perspective to cultural commentary.
Event Bios
For introductions at events, please feel free to use this 50-word or 100-word bio.
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50-Word Bio
Manil Suri is the author of three internationally acclaimed novels including The Death of Vishnu, and a book on popular mathematics, The Big Bang of Numbers. His work has been translated into 27 languages and received several honors, including winning the Barnes and Noble Discover Prize, and being longlisted for the Booker Prize.
100-Word Bio
Manil Suri is the author of the memoir, A Room in Bombay, three internationally acclaimed novels, The Death of Vishnu, The Age of Shiva and The City of Devi, and a book on popular mathematics, The Big Bang of Numbers. His work has been longlisted for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the PEN/Faulkner, Lambda Literary, and PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Awards, and won the McKittrick Prize and the Barnes & Noble Discover Award, among others. He has served as a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and is a distinguished university professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.