Tanwi Nandini Islam
Tanaïs | |
|---|---|
| Born | Tanwi Nandini Islam October 5, 1982 Carbondale, Illinois, U.S. |
| Education | Vassar College (BA) Brooklyn College (MFA) |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, perfumer |
| Website | tanwinandini |
Tanaïs (née Tanwi Nandini Islam) is an American fiction writer and perfumer. They are the founder of the Brooklyn-based beauty and fragrance company TANAÏS.[1] They are of Bangladeshi descent.
Born in Illinois, they spent their childhood in various cities such as Houston, Columbia, and St. Louis, before settling in Brooklyn.[2][3] They received a BA in women's studies with a focus on performance art and Asian American studies at Vassar College and a MFA in creative writing at Brooklyn College.
Career[edit]
Tanaïs first worked in New York City as a community organizer at Make the Road New York, a non-profit organization based in Bushwick, Brooklyn to empower working class communities.[4] Later in 2006 in New Delhi, India through the William J. Clinton Fellowship for Service, they started writing their first draft of their debut novel Bright Lines. The novel was named finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Brooklyn Eagles Literary Prize,[5] and the Edmund White Award for debut fiction.
While writing Bright Lines, Tanaïs grew interested in olfaction and started their own botanically-based perfume and candle line Hi Wildflower Botanica.[6]
Tanaïs's 2022 memoir, In Sensorium, won the Kirkus Prize for nonfiction.[7]
Publications[edit]
- 2015: Bright Lines, Penguin Books, ISBN 978-0143123132
- 2022: In Sensorium: Notes For My People, Harper Books, ISBN 978-0358381709
References[edit]
- ^ "Tanwi Nandini Islam Is Crafting 'Bright Lines' and 'Beautifully Universal' Scents". nbcnews.com. 2016-07-11. Archived from the original on 2018-05-13. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
- ^ "Not the Usual South Asian Muslim Suspects". www.lareviewofbooks.org/. 26 February 2016. Archived from the original on 2018-05-13. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
- ^ "From Bangladesh to Brooklyn: Tanwi Nandini Islam's 'Bright Lines'". wnyc.org. 2015-09-15. Archived from the original on 2016-07-31. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
- ^ "Two Bangladeshi Entrepreneurs, a Generation Apart". www.nycitylens.com/. Archived from the original on 2018-05-13. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
- ^ "Brooklyn Eagles Literary Prize Shortlists Announced". www.bklynlibrary.org/. 30 August 2016. Archived from the original on 2018-05-13. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
- ^ "Get To Know New York-based Author Tanwi Nandini Islam". www.nylon.com/. 19 December 2016. Archived from the original on 2018-05-13. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
- ^ "Hernan Diaz, Tanaïs among winners of $50,000 Kirkus Prize". AP News. 28 October 2022. Archived from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- American people of Bangladeshi descent
- American writers of Bangladeshi descent
- 21st-century American novelists
- American women company founders
- American cosmetics businesspeople
- Vassar College alumni
- Brooklyn College alumni
- Living people
- 1982 births
- 21st-century American women writers
- Perfumers
- Kirkus Prize winners