What triggered the author in you? Which was your first published work?
I think I’ve always been a writer at heart but it took me a long time to commit to it. Books and stories were a powerful influence in my childhood and I knew as a child that if possible writing is what I wanted to do.
I was a huge reader and knew that I wanted to be like all these amazing authors I so admired and create stories to try and make sense of the world. As I grew up I got side-tracked into other areas and fiction writing went on the backburner for a while. But writing of some description always remained the core of my professional work as a researcher.
About 10 years ago I decided to listen to my younger self and fully commit to fiction writing. I started writing short stories and was amazed and thrilled when they started being published.I also did a writing course, the Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing at Whitireia Polytechnic, which allowed me to concentrate time and energy on a writing project for a whole year. My first major publication is my collection of short stories Rising to the Surface, published in 2013 by Steele Roberts Publishers.
Have your Indian roots influenced your writing or been reflected in your writing in any way?
Being Indian is an essential part of who I am and my experiences and has therefore definitely shaped my thinking and my writing. While I have never lived in India for any extended period, I was born there and have visited several times. I also belong to a family that has always celebrated Indian culture – the food, the music, the literature. I grew up with all these influences and as a writer have tapped into them.
Having said that, identity is a huge issue for writers from diaspora communities – am I an Indian writer writing stories about India and Indians or a New Zealand writer writing stories about New Zealand? I feel somewhere between the two. I don’t want to undervalue my unique position and perspective as an Indian living in New Zealand, but I also think identity can be limiting and shouldn’tcompletely define writers. After all really great writing always taps into universal issues and themes. Cultural identity has been a huge debate in literature. The ‘Nigerian-American’ writer Tope Folarin has said,“This obsession with identity will become less important in the 21st century just because so many of us come from so many places that it ceases to become a meaningful discussion.”
What do you think about the creative writing programmes taught at universities? Do you think one can be trained to become a writer?
Novelist and creative writing teacher, HanifKureishi has famously said that creative writing courses are a waste of time and many agree with him that writing is not something that can be taught. I don’t feel quite so strongly against creative writing programmes, having taken a course myself and benefitting from it, but I do think the best thing you can do if you want to be a writer is to read, read and read. There is so much brilliant writing out there and immersing yourself in great literature will probably do more to help you as a writer as anything else. Other benefits of creative writing courses such as feedback on your work from other writers can also be gained easily outside of formal courses, such as through writing groups and informal mentoring.
The advantages of academic creative writing courses are sometimesmore to do with pragmatic benefits like exposing you to important writing and publishing networks.
What do you think about the current scene of writers in NZ especially in the context of Eleanor Catton’s comment in the Indian media?
It was interesting watching how Eleanor Catton’s comments at the Jaipur Literary Festival played out in New Zealand. To me the main concern in all the hue and cry was the implication that writers shouldn’t publically criticise their country or government. I think this is a very dangerous viewpoint. It’s really important that writers and artists are a free and independent voice, even if they choose to be dissenting voices. Without this basic freedom of artistic expression the world is a scary place!
There’s also some truth to Catton’s point that New Zealanders are often reluctant to express strong views. And look what happens when you do! Catton certainly got a lot of unfair backlash.
Please tell us about your future projects.
I’m currently working on a second book of inter-linked stories. It’s tentatively titled ‘Street View’ and it’s about a group of people who all live in one particular city neighbourhood and touches on the various connections and lack of connections between them.