Esther David is an Indian Jewish novelist, artist, and sculptor who was born on March 17, 1945. In Ahmedabad, Gujarat, she was born into a Bene Israel Jewish family. In 2010, she received the Sahitya Akademi Award for The Book of Rachel. Reuben David, her father, was a hunter who later became a veterinarian and founded the Kamala Nehru Zoological Garden and Balvatika near Kankaria Lake in Ahmedabad. Sarah, her mother, was a schoolteacher. She studied Fine Arts and Art History at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda after finishing her schooling in Ahmedabad. Sancho Chaudhary, a sculptor, taught her sculpting and art history while she was there. She returned to Ahmedabad after graduation to begin her profession as an art history and art appreciation professor. She taught at Sheth Chimanlal Nagindas Fine Arts College, CEPT University, and the National Institute of Fashion Technology. She began writing about art and eventually became the art critic for the Times of India, a national English daily. She went on to write columns for Femina, a women’s magazine, the “Times of India,” and other national dailies. Eve Times, Ahmedabad, has her as an advisory editor. She is the author of various works. She had also edited and contributed to a few books. Her writings are about Ahmedabad’s Bene Israel Jews. Shalom India Housing Society was highlighted in the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute’s 2010–2011 calendar, which recognizes 12 Jewish women authors from around the world whose “work illuminates a particular metropolis.” Jewish Women Writers and the Cities that Influence Them was the title of the calendar.
