Meera Syal

Meera syal was born in 1963 near Wolverhampton in the West Midlands and was educated at Manchester University where she read English and Drama. She co-wrote the script for 'My Sister Wife', a three-part BBC Television series, and wrote the film Bhaji on the Beach for Channel 4. She co-writes and is a cast member of the popular BBC Television comedy series 'Goodness Gracious Me' and The Kumars at No. 42'. She also works as a journalist and is a regular contributor to The Guardian.
Meera Syal's childhood experiences growing up in a small mining community provided the background to her first novel, Anita and Me (1996). The novel was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize and won a Betty Trask Award. It tells the story of Meena Kumar, a young Asian girl struggling to accommodate the opposing influences of her white schoolfriends and her traditional Punjabi background. Syal's second novel, Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee (1999), narrates the adventures of three young Asian women growing up in Britain.
Meera Syal was awarded an MBE in 1997 and won the 'Media Personality of the Year' award at the Commission for Racial Equality's annual 'Race in the Media' awards (2000), as well as the EMMA (BT Ethnic and Multicultural Media Award) for Media Personality of the Year in 2001.
Bibliography
Six Plays by Black and Asian Women Writers (includes My Sister Wife by Meera Syal) Aurora Metro Publications, 1995
Anita and Me Flamingo, 1996
Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee Doubleday, 1999
Prizes and awards
1996 Betty Trask Award Anita and Me
1996 Guardian Fiction Prize (shortlist) Anita and Me
1997 MBE
2000 Commission for Racial Equality Race in the Media Personality of the Year Award (Commission for Racial Equality 'Race in the Media' awards)
2001 EMMA (BT Ethnic and Multicultural Media Award) for Media Personality of the Year