Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
Q. The Living is your third novel. Tell us more about the novel writing process. What was different this time round, if at all? The novel writing process is: you’re in the dark, excited to find out about all sorts of things, seeing links, having insights, running around, wondering if you’ve finally lost it (no, actually …
Q. Your debut novel, Londonstani achieved a six-figure advance and was applauded by critics. Looking back, do you think it was a victim of its own early success? The book was clearly a victim of its own hype, but at the same time I actually reckon the hype was this necessary evilness. Because the hype meant that Londonstani found …
The real story of Indian Summers begins not in 1930’s India and the Himalayan foothills of Simla, but a few decades later, in a cupboard in a Darjeeling hotel. It was there that series creator Paul Rutman was shown a hoard of photos dating back to the Raj. This reignited a fascination with India and …
Interviewed by James Wilkinson Since publishing her first novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, Anuradha Roy has developed into one of the most exciting new voices of South Asian literature. Published to critical acclaim, her first novel was published in thirteen different languages. Her second novel, The Folded Earth won the Economist Crossword Book Award 2011 and achieved …
Q. The Private Life of Mrs Sharma is the second novel that you’ve written. Much has been said and written about writing that difficult ‘second novel’. What mindset were you in when you started? I think the difficulty with the second novel that you refer to applies to those (fortunate?) folks whose first books met …
by Kavita A. Jindal Glass Scissors is a debut poetry book with a purpose, and although the purpose is ‘reflection’, in both senses of the word, the poems it offers are political, confessional, tense and temperamental. Bobby Nayyar as a poet is strikingly frank about himself, his pain and his desires. This acutely personal and …
Shahrukh Husain’s latest novel, A Restless Wind offers a fictional account of modern Indian maharajas – the royals who lost their power when the nation gained Independence in 1947. This is an intriguing story of London-based barrister, Zara Hamilton who travels home to Trivikrampur after a decade, at the request of her Aunt. Deeply troubled, …
What inspired you to write, A Restless Wind? Where did the story come from? The story had been gestating since I was a teenager fascinated by the family events of a close relative, the Sufism, a certain annual festival held in the grounds of the house that I’ve renamed Qila. That house and its backyard …
What came first the elephant or Inspector Chopra? You could say Ganesha, the baby elephant in the series, gatecrashed the party. After living in India for 10 years I wanted to write a novel that took readers on a journey to the heart of the subcontinent – and I wanted the lead character, Inspector Chopra, …
Where did the inspiration for Sofia Khan is Not Obliged come from? It was a combination of the absurdity of the Muslim dating scene, my love of Bridget Jones and the fact that there aren’t enough Muslim heroines in literature. The dating book thread actually came from an old colleague at work, and the editorial …