desaiLast night in London, it was announced that Kiran Desai, a creative writing MFA student at our fair University, has won the Man Booker Prize for fiction.  From the press release: “Her winning book, The Inheritance of Loss, is a radiant, funny and moving family saga and has been described by reviewers as ‘the best, sweetest, most delightful novel.’”

Desai, at 35, is the youngest woman to ever win the Man.  In a bit of a twisted coincidence, it turns out that Desai’s mother, Anita, “has been shortlisted for the prize three times since 1980 but has never won”…which is going to make dinner tonight reeeeeealy awkward.  Especially since, rumor has it, they’re planning on inviting Jhumpa Lahiri.