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In the Hot Seat with Roopa Farooki

26 July 2010 No Comment

My favourite author is Tolkien, as Lord of the Rings is still my favourite book.

My bedside read Currently a pile of parenting books (I have five month old twin girls) and my students’ MA assignments.

The most inspiring person I’ve ever met My mother, who believes that everything is possible.

My writing ritual Sitting in front of my laptop at 8am and not leaving until I have a few hundred words to work with.

My biggest influence My family life, which has informed almost all of my writing.

The book I would recommend you read Winnie The Pooh by A A Milne, to remember what it was like to be a child.

My writing pet hates That a phrase never seems so beautiful on the page as it did in my head.

What my family think of my writing/me being a writer Very proud, and a little surprised that I’ve been so prolific, with four books written in four years.

My favourite phrase “Making things up and writing them down” – how my two little boys describe my work.

How I survive the novel writing process With coffee and vast amounts of comfort food.

Roopa Farooki was born in Lahore, Pakistan, and brought up in London. She read PPE at New College, Oxford and worked in advertising before turning to writing full time. Her award nominated books are published internationally in the US and across Europe in translation. Roopa lives in SE England and SW France with her husband, two sons and twin baby girls, and teaches the MA in Creative Writing at Canterbury Christ Church University.

Publication List:

Bitter Sweets (2007, Nominated for Orange New Writers Award), Corner Shop (2008), The Way Things Look To Me (2009, Longlisted for the Orange Award 2010), Half Life (2010), all published by Pan Macmillan

Website:

www.roopafarooki.com