Ashok is an internationally acclaimed author of mixed-race. His Epic India Library is a lifetime writing plan that aims to retell all the major myths, legends and itihasa of the Indian sub-continent. This includes the Ramayana Series, Krishna Coriolis, the Mahabharata Series, the contemporary Kali Rising thriller series and other works. His books have sold over 1.7 million copies in 13 languages and 58 countries worldwide.
Background
Banker was the son of an Anglo-Indian Christian mother and the biological son of a Gujarati Hindu Non-Resident Indian. His parents were estranged before he was born, that's why he was raised by his mother and grandmother.
Banker has mentioned in interviews how his grandmother not only encouraged him to write but even financed the publication of his first book, a collection of his poetry titled Ashes In The Dust Of Time, which he self-published at age 15 and which was selected to represent Young India at the World Book Fair in Paris, France that year.
Besides, he found early support from the director of the school where he studied, Miss Sophy Kelly, a prominent patron of the arts and leader of the Bene Israeli Jewish community in Mumbai at the time.
Career
Ashok worked as a journalist, publishing articles in The Times of India, Mumbai, and covering stories for Outlook magazine, New Delhi. He was earlier also known as a prolific reviewer and commentator on contemporary Indian literature, and as a candid essayist with a particular focus on media hypocrisy in India, and the western racial bias against South Asian writers. He was a prolific literary critic and reviewer, known for his candour and bluntness in reviewing books by Indian authors.
Nowadays Ashok is considered to be among the significant literary names in post-colonial Indian literature His work is the focus of several academic studies for its cross-cultural themes and realistic portrayals of Indian urban issues.
He is one of few contemporary Indian authors writing in English to be included in prestigious anthologies such as The Vintage Book of Modern Indian Literature and The Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature. His work has been the subject of dissertations included in the syllabi or reading lists of institutes. He introduced Indian mythology to a new generation of readers with works that have been described as "better written than many books in the genre that followed", "well paced" and "breathes humanity into characters that most Indians consider deities.
Banker has published in several genres, ranging from contemporary fiction about urban life in India to multi-volume mythological epics, as well as cross-genre works.
Three of his novels contain autobiographical elements and are closely related to one another. His first novel (though the fifth published) Vertigo is about a man struggling to make a successful career and home life in Bombay (the former name of Mumbai). Byculla Boy takes its name from the Byculla suburb of Bombay where he and his mother grew up. Beautiful Ugly and the complementary documentary of the same title are a tribute to his mother, portraying the tragic events of her life.
Banker is best known for his Ramayana Series, a freely imaginative retelling of the ancient Sanskrit epic poem. The eight-book Series was published in 56 countries and 7 languages to considerable critical acclaim. In India, the Series continues to enjoy popularity and sales.