Eunice de Souza Biography

Eunice de Souza is a contemporary Indian English language poet, literary critic and novelist. Among her notable books of poetry is Women in Dutch painting (1988).

Early Life and Education

Eunice de Souza was born and grew up in Pune, in a Goan Catholic family. She studied English literature with an MA from the Marquette University in Wisconsin, and a PhD from the University of Mumbai. She taught English at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, and was Head of the Department until her recent retirement. She was involved in the well known literary festival Ithaka organized at the college.

She has also been involved in theater, both as actress and director. She began writing novels with Dangerlok in 2001. She has also written four children's books.

She hints at an ancestral Portuguese conversion in the poem de Souza Prabhu:

No, I'm not going to
delve deep down and discover
I'm really de Souza Prabhu
even if Prabhu was no fool
and got the best of both worlds.
(Catholic Brahmin!
I can hear his fat chuckle still.)

Aside from poetry and fiction, de Souza has edited numerous anthologies and collections and writes a weekly column for the Mumbai Mirror. She currently lives in Mumbai.