"Kamala On Her Wedding Day
Age 15"
 

“Book cover of The Love Queen of Malabar,
a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Nonfiction
Prize.”

“Kamala Das with Mary Weisbord,
author of The Love Queen of Malabar.”

The Love Queen of Malabar
Memoir of a Friendship with Kamala Das
Author: Mary Weisbord

A new book on Kamala Das was recently named a finalist for the prestigious Rogers Writers’
Trust Nonfiction Prize. It is an astonishing adventure into the heart of one of India's most
controversial writers.

Kamala Das (1934-2009) is one of India's most beloved literary figures. She was hailed and
reviled as the first Indian woman to write an autobiographical cult classic about love and
desire. Admirers dubbed her, "The First Feminist Emotional Revolutionary of Our Time." The
tabloid press called her "The Love Queen of Malabar."

Mary Weisbord found Das's work so compelling that she flew to South India to meet her.
The Love Queen of Malabar is the story of their decade-long friendship, an experiment in
mutual revelation. Recounting the development of their relationship, Weisbord relates the
dramatic events of Das's life, including her transition from celibacy to sexual awakening at
age sixty-seven when, provoking the greatest scandal of her notorious life, she converted to
Islam for love and renewal.

Both observer and direct participant, Weisbord elegantly presents new biographical insights
and cultural details about Kerala and India without eroticising or stereotyping. The Love
Queen of Malabar is an evocative and beautifully crafted work, as seamless as the finest
novel, and will captivate readers across the globe.

Mary Weisbord is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and broadcaster.

ISBN 978-0-7735-3791-0
$32.95 6x9 288pp
2 drawings, 30 black & white photographs

For more information on the book visit mqup.ca, and follow news about The Love Queen of

Malabar at facebook.com/McGillQueens and twitter.com/scholarmqup.