R Raj Rao

R. Raj Rao (born 1955) is a writer and teacher of literature and one of India’s leading gay-rights activists. His 2003 novel The Boyfriend is one of the first gay novels to come from India.

He received his PhD in English literature from the University of Bombay, and did post-doctoral studies from the University of Warwick.

He is the author of Slide Show (poems), One Day I Locked My Flat in Soul City (short stories) and Nissim Ezekiel:

The Authorized Biography. Poems from his ‘Bogey’ collection also served as the basis for Riyad Wadia's 1996 film Bombay, said to be India's first gay film.

Rao is a professor in the department of English, University of Pune, founder of Queer Studies Circle, a gay-lesbian student group, and in his own words, a radical utopian.