R. K. Narayan was born in Madras in 1906 and educated there and at Maharajah's College in Mysore. He has lived in India ever since, apart from his travels. Most of his work, starting from his first novel Swami and friends (1935) is set in the fictional town of Malgudi which at the same time captures everything Indian while having a unique identity of its own. After having read only a few of his books it is difficult to shake off the feeling that you have vicariously lived in this town. Malgudi is perhaps the single most endearing "character" R. K. Narayan has ever created.

He has published numerous novels, five collections of short stories (A Horse and Two Goats, An Astrologer's Day, Lawley Road, Malgudi Days, and The Grandmother's Tale), two travel books (My Dateless Diary and The Emerald Route), four collections of essays (Next Sunday, Reluctant Guru, A Writer's Nightmare, and A Story-Teller's World), a memoir (My Days), and some translations of Indian epics and myths (The Ramayana, The Mahabharata, and Gods, Demons and Others).

In 1980, R. K. Narayan was awarded the A.C. Benson award by the Royal Society of Literature and was made an Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1989 he was made a member of the Rajya Sabha (the non-elective House of Parliament in India). He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for The Guide (1958).

R. K. Narayan's full name is Rasipuram Krishnaswami Ayyar Naranayanaswami. In his early years he signed his name as R. K. Narayanaswami, but apparently at the time of the publication of Swami and Friends, he shortened it to R. K. Narayan on Graham Greene's suggestion.

R. K. Narayan's Published Works

• 1935: Swami and friends
• 1937: Bachelor of Arts
• 1938: The Dark Room
• 1939: Mysore
• 1945: The English Teacher
• 1947: An Astrologer's Day, and other stories
• 1949: Mr. Sampath - The Printer of Malgudi
• 1952: The Financial Expert
• 1953: Grateful to Life and Death
• 1955: Waiting for the Mahatma
• 1956: Lawley Road, and other stories
• 1958: The Guide
• 1960: Next Sunday : sketches and essays
• 1961: The Man-Eater of Malgudi
• 1964: My Dateless Diary: An American Journey
• 1965: Gods, Demons, and others
• 1967: The Vendor of Sweets
• 1970: A Horse and two Goats, stories
• 1972: The Ramayana; a shortened modern prose version
• 1974: My Days
• 1974: Reluctant Guru
• 1976: The Painter of Signs
• 1978: The Mahabharata: a shortened modern prose version
• 1980: The Emerald Route
• 1982: Malgudi Days
• 1983: A Tiger for Malgudi
• 1985: Under the Banyan Tree and other stories
• 1986: Talkative Man
• 1988: A Writer's Nightmare : selected essays
• 1989: A Story-Teller's World: Stories, Essays, Sketches
• 1990: The World of Nagaraj
• 1992: Malgudi Landscapes: the best of R.K. Narayan
• 1993: The Grandmother's Tale: three novellas
• 1993: Salt & sawdust : stories and table talk

• Excerpt from V. S. Naipaul's essay: "The Writer and India" published in the New York Review of Books. March 4, 1999. Also an excellent commentary on Naipaul's essay.
• A new biography of R. K. Narayan called "R. K. Narayan: Early Years 1906-1945" was published on Oct 11 1996. Written by Susan Ram and N. Ram. (Hindu article on the biography)
• R.K. Narayan gets Sahitya Akademi Fellowship.
• Paul Brians' study guide for R. K. Narayan's "The Guide".
• My America, an essay by R. K. Narayan (at a remote site).
• A critique of My America by Amy Laly.
• Tales familiar and unfamiliar (from the online Hindu).
• Information about Narayan from NYU.
• French translations of Narayan are available from Mille-Feuilles.
• A bit more about Graham Greene and his relationship with R. K. Narayan.

• Perspectives on R.K. Narayan, edited by Atma Ram. 1982.
• R.K. Narayan : a critical spectrum, edited by Bhagwat S. Goyal. 1982
• 5 letters from R. K. Narayan in the Bodley Head "Adult Editorial" files. R.K. Narayan 1987
• R.K. Narayan, The Guide : a critical view, by Alistair Niven; edited by Yolande Cantu. 1985
• A. Hariprasanna. The World of Malgudi. 1994. Prestige Books, New Delhi.
• M. K. Naik. The Ironic Vision. 1983. Sterling Publishers, New Delhi.
• K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar. Indian Writing in English. 1985. Sterling Publishers, New Delhi.
• R. K. Narayan, in an interview given to S. Krishna, quoted by Hilda Pontes in R. K. Narayan, ed. Nissim Ezekiel. 1983. Concept Publishers, New Delhi.
• Graham Greene. Introduction to The Financial Expert.
• Ved Mehta. The Train had just arrived at Malgudi Station. in John in Easy to Please, p.55. 1971. Secker and Warburg, London.
• A. Ramakrishna Rao, ed. Comparative Perspectives on Indian Literature. Prestige Books. New Delhi. ISBN: 81-85218-64-1.

This page is unofficial and I am not privy to any way of contacting the author. Please bear with dangling links on this page. Also, thanks to Subir Grewal for providing valuable information that I've included in this page.