Could you please tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into writing? I am a writer one way or the other. I worked as a magazine journalist under Singapore editors, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for several years in the Nineties before I gave up mainstream life to travel to obscure places. I …
Hema Macherla
The Asian Writer meets Hema Macherla
A Writing Start by Vijay Medtia
STARBUCKS, near the corner of Albert Square is crowded with people taking a break from their office work; smart men and women reading a book or a newspaper. There were many strangely named coffees and at the beginning I was confused; espresso, cappuccino, caramel macchiato- all expensively priced. The cups would be too big for …
Meet the seventeen year old novelist, Nityasya Belpurkar
You’re the youngest published writer to be featured on The Asian Writer – do you consider yourself as a young writer? And what perception do people have of you? Of course I do. I think it’s a bit of a shock for whoever has heard of the book. Also they assume that I’m really smart which is …
Anjali Joseph
Tell us a bit about your journey as a writer so far? I was born in Bombay into quite a bookish environment and with many fervent adults around. I grew up there for a few years and then in England, and always wrote stories and other things. When I was fourteen I had a …
Nikesh Shukla
We’ve been here several times before discussing your writing. What’s happened since we last spoke? Now, I actually have a book out, Coconut Unlimited. It’s out in October on Quartet Books. Since we last spoke, I’ve signed a book deal, started developing a sitcom for a TV channel, eaten my bodyweight in idlis, now I’ve …
Asit Maitra
When did you start writing poetry? I started writing poetry when I was about 18. What was the first poem that you wrote, that you thought was good? My first poem that I thought was good (and published in the Sunday Supplement of a local Bengali newspaper) was titled ‘Bhanga chair’, (broken chair), a raw …
Fatima Al Matar
When did you start writing poetry? I started writing poetry in my early teens. What was the first poem you wrote that you thought was good? I can’t really remember the first poem I wrote which I thought was good as I started writing quite young and my standards have changed dramatically since then. However …
Sweta Srivastava Vikram
When did you start writing poetry? I want to say when I was in my pre-teens. Growing up, I always liked collecting diaries and scribbling in them, but I formally started dabbling in poetry when I joined my boarding school in Mussoorie, India. Of course, over the years, my voice and style (impacted by my …
Meeting Arvind Mehrotra
Arvind Mehrotra is a name that you might not be too familiar with, but in May last year, he was the first Indian poet to be nominated for the chair of Professor of Poetry at Oxford. Mehrotra is considered to be one of the leading Indian poets writing in English and currently heads the English …