She won the Central Sahitya Akademi award for her English language novel Disorderly Women in 2007.
As a young girl, Rao was inspired by the works of Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters and Louisa May Alcott among others.
She epitomized the new generation of her time, as a highly educated independent working woman.
Highly respected and loved by her peers and students alike, Delhi was her home until she moved back to Bangalore in the mid-nineties.
Malathi Rao has written three novels, three collections of short stories and authored several newspaper articles.