English Professor's Novel Continues To Garner Critical Acclaim With Prestigious SAH Prize

The East Indian described as an ‘exquisite and moving novel’

A Keene State College English professor’s novel, The East Indian, first published in May of 2023, continues to earn critical acclaim.

Dr. Brinda Charry is the recipient of the 18th biannual 2025 Society of American Historians (SAH) Prize for Historical Fiction, known formally as the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Historical Fiction.

The prize is awarded in odd-numbered years for a book of historical fiction on an American subject that makes a significant contribution to historical understanding, portrays authentically the people and events of the historical past, and displays skills in narrative construction and prose style.

The prize carries an award of $2,000.

I tried to write a story that is global in its reach and scope, even as it is very much a local story – it is from such convergences that America was born. I find the judges’ comment that The East Indian functions as ‘a new origin story’ for America particularly gratifying.”

– Dr. Brinda Charry, professor of English

The East Indian is a coming-of-age tale about a boy born in India whose circumstances take him to America. The backdrop is the early days of colonial America.

Charry was born and raised in India, and completed her doctoral degree at Syracuse University, NY, before coming to Keene in 2005 to teach early modern British literature and culture and creative writing.

The previous recipient of the SAH award is Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley. Other literary luminaries who have won the prize include Philip Roth and Tim O’Brien.

The East Indian has also been shortlisted for the Barnes and Noble Discover Prize and longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. It has been nominated for two major literary Awards in India: the Crossword Book Prize (shortlist) and the JCB Award (longlisted).

Charry called her latest novel a labor of love.

“I am grateful and delighted that it has been recognized with this award,” she said. “I tried to write a story that is global in its reach and scope, even as it is very much a local story – it is from such convergences that America was born. I find the judge’s comment that The East Indian functions as ‘a new origin story’ for America particularly gratifying. I hope to be able to continue telling such stories.”

The Society of American Historians was founded in 1939 by the journalist and Columbia University historian Allan Nevins and several fellow scholars to promote literary distinction in the writing of history and biography.

In all, four prizes are awarded for historical work of exceptional merit. This year’s other winners are:

• James Grossman, the 6th annual Tony Horwitz Prize, honoring distinguished work in American history of wide appeal and enduring public significance.

• Jon Grinspan, the 69th annual Francis Parkman Prize for Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War.

• Joshua Lappen, the 59th annual Allan Nevins Prize for his dissertation, “Cultures of Power: Electrification, Politics, and Visibility in Greater Los Angeles.”

In a news release from the SAH, The East Indian is described as “an exquisite and moving novel” and “a picaresque tale that charts the varied voyages of a boy born to a Tamil mother in the coastal village of Armagon, site of one of the English East India Company’s first forts in South Asia.

“As the tides of history sweep over him, he is wrenched from his home and deposited across the ocean in London before finally washing up on the Virginia shore, where he labors in the tobacco fields alongside a motley collection of unfree laborers from Africa and Great Britain.”

Charry is also a specialist in Shakespeare and other writers of the English Renaissance and has published numerous books and articles in that field. She lives in Keene.