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Jhumpa Lahiri

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Books Written by Jhumpa Lahiri

Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize for her debut story collection at 32, becoming one of the defining literary voices on the experience of the Bengali immigrant diaspora in America. Later in her career, in an unusual and much-discussed move, she began writing exclusively in Italian, a language she’d learned as an adult, producing a body of work that examines identity and belonging from an entirely new linguistic angle.

Interpreter of Maladies remains her most acclaimed and widely read work, but In Other Words offers a fascinating look at her later reinvention as an Italian-language writer.

By Lisanne Swart · 5 books · Literary Fiction · Updated August 2026

Quick answer

Jhumpa Lahiri is best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning story collection Interpreter of Maladies (1999), the novel The Namesake (2003), and The Lowland (2013), along with In Other Words (2015), written in Italian. Interpreter of Maladies is the essential starting point.

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01
Short StoriesStart here

Interpreter of Maladies

Jhumpa Lahiri · 1999

Lahiri’s debut story collection, examining the lives of Indian and Indian-American characters navigating marriage, immigration, and cultural displacement, told with precise, understated prose.

Won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2000, an extraordinary achievement for a debut collection, and established the themes of cultural translation and quiet emotional restraint that would define her career.

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02
Literary Fiction

The Namesake

Jhumpa Lahiri · 2003

Lahiri’s first novel follows Gogol Ganguli, the American-born son of Bengali immigrants, as he navigates an identity split between his parents’ traditions and his own American upbringing, symbolized by his unusual, unwanted name.

Adapted into a 2006 film directed by Mira Nair — widely read as a defining novel of the second-generation immigrant experience in America.

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03
Short Stories

Unaccustomed Earth

Jhumpa Lahiri · 2008

A second story collection continuing Lahiri’s examination of the Bengali-American experience, this time focused more on second-generation characters navigating relationships, parenthood, and inherited expectation.

Debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list, unusual for a literary story collection, cementing Lahiri’s crossover appeal beyond a purely literary readership.

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04
Literary Fiction

The Lowland

Jhumpa Lahiri · 2013

A sweeping novel following two brothers in Calcutta whose lives diverge sharply after one becomes involved in the Naxalite political movement, with consequences that ripple across decades and continents.

A finalist for both the Booker Prize and the National Book Award — her most historically and politically ambitious novel, extending her scope well beyond the immigrant family drama of her earlier work.

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05
Memoir

In Other Words

Jhumpa Lahiri · 2015

Written entirely in Italian, a language Lahiri began learning as an adult and eventually moved to Rome to fully immerse herself in, this memoir examines her decision to abandon English, the language of her literary success, for a language she was still learning.

One of the more unusual reinventions in contemporary literature — Lahiri effectively restarted her writing career in a new language at the height of her English-language success, and this book explains why.

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Watch: Jhumpa Lahiri Says the Phrase ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ Came to Her in Grad School

Jhumpa Lahiri discusses the origins of her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Interpreter of Maladies with NPR’s Book of the Day.

Where to start with Jhumpa Lahiri

If you want her defining work

Interpreter of Maladies won the Pulitzer Prize and remains her most acclaimed book.

If you want her most ambitious novel

The Lowland extends her scope into Indian political history across decades.

If you want her unusual reinvention

In Other Words explains her surprising decision to begin writing in Italian.

Frequently asked questions about Jhumpa Lahiri’s books

How many books has Jhumpa Lahiri written?

Jhumpa Lahiri has written several major works, including the story collections Interpreter of Maladies (1999) and Unaccustomed Earth (2008), the novels The Namesake (2003) and The Lowland (2013), and the Italian-language memoir In Other Words (2015).

What is the best Jhumpa Lahiri book to start with?

Interpreter of Maladies. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and remains her most acclaimed and widely read work.

Why does Jhumpa Lahiri write in Italian?

After years of writing acclaimed fiction in English, Lahiri began learning Italian as an adult and eventually moved to Rome to immerse herself in the language, later choosing to write exclusively in Italian — a decision she explains in her memoir In Other Words.

Written by Lisanne Swart

Lisanne curates books for curious readers at lisanneswart.com, publishing original reading lists, author deep-dives, and honest recommendations since 2021. Read more about Lisanne.

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