Bapsi Sidhwa
What have your best reads been this year and why?
‘Three Cups of Tea’ by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It is a true story about an American lost in the Hindukush Mountains: I love the mountains and the heart-stopping description of the wild eruption of towering peaks (and of the people who dwell in them) moved me deeply.

‘The Last Mughal’ by William Dalrymple— again, deeply moving and engaging. I had not realised the extent of British treachery. A lot of the material is original in this meticulously researched book. The writing is excellent.

Any Indian authors you are looking forward to reading in the coming year?
I look forward to reading Amitav Ghose’s latest book. Also Vikram Seth and Rohinton Mistry if they have new books out this year.

What do you think of the quality of work available today, especially with the publishing scene opening up in India? (what changes would you like to see...)

Indian publishing covers a creditable range of genres and interests:  May it continue to flourish! As anywhere else in the world the quality of writing is uneven.

Have you any special projects lined up for 2008?
I plan to write another play, finish my collection of short stories and compile my essays into a book.



Shashi Deshpande
What have your best reads been this year and why?
I’ve read a lot of my favourite writers this year getting all their books I haven’t read from the library when visiting our son in Boston— Elizabeth George, Sara Paretsky, Anne Tyler. Anne Tyler’s ‘Digging in America’ made very good reading.  I read Grace Paley’s short stories and loved them. Also Alice Munro’s short stories. An interesting one was Geraldine Brooke’s ‘March’, which tells the story of Mr March, the absent father of Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Little Women’. K R Usha’s ‘A Girl and a River’ was also satisfying, not only because it is a good novel but also because few Indian writers have dealt with this era.

Any Indian authors you are looking forward to reading in the coming year?
I look forward to reading any good book, by an Indian author or otherwise, but I’m specially look forward to reading new and young Indian writers. I am curious about the way this writing is going.

What do you think of the quality of work available today, especially with the publishing scene opening up in India? (what changes would you like to see...)

I haven’t seen much change in the publishing scene as yet. It will take a year or two for the change to become visible to readers. But I hope that the strength of Indian publishers will make it possible for Indian writers to write without thinking of the Western market. This has become quite a pressure.

Have you any special projects lined up for 2008?
My new novel should come out this year and I hope to complete the translation of a Marathi novel (by Gauri Deshpande) on which I am working at present.


V Raghunathan
What have your best reads been this year and why?

Ramachandra Guha’s ‘India After Independence’ was a great read! Because the book was serious history written in an extremely readable style!

Any Indian authors you are looking forward to reading in the coming year?
Amitava Ghosh and Jhumpa Lahiri

What do you think of the quality of work available today, especially with the publishing scene opening up in India? (what changes would you like to see...)
I think the quality of Indian authors is world class.  As for the publishing scene, the improvements I would like to see are—Some serious marketing efforts; what exists is mere distribution and very little marketing effort. Also, the Indian publishing industry is almost never worthwhile for the author from a monetary view point. Barring a couple of international publishing houses, nobody even pays an advance to the authors and even the advances being paid are pathetic. It takes a couple of years on an average for an author to write a book; another couple of years to see it in print and then one more year to see the first royalty cheque. And then, a book is a bestseller if it sells 5000 copies! This is hardly an incentive for an author to write.

Have you any special projects lined up for 2008?
Yes I do. But the speed with which the reputed publishing houses work, I wonder if I will actually see the book out in 2008.  It is more likely to be 2009!!

Paro Anand
What have your best reads been this year?
‘Cat’s Eye’ by Margaret Atwood
‘Fantasies of a Bollywood Love Thief’ by Stephen Alter
‘Thinner than Thou’ by Kit Reed
‘Blood Brothers’ by M J Akbar
‘Once Upon a Time in the Soviet Union’ by Dominique Lapierre
‘Memory Keeper’s Daughter’ by Kim Edwards.

Any Indian authors you are looking forward to reading in the coming year?
I love reading Indian authors and am going to start reading ‘Sacred Games’ as soon as I can.

Any children’s literature that you enjoyed reading this year?
I am re-reading all the Harry Potters especially the last one (‘Deathly Hallows’) that ended on a very satisfying note as it tied up all loose ends. (Other books are...)
‘The Phantom Isles’ by Stephen Alter
‘Nyagrodha’ by Kalpish Ratna
‘Stolen Voices’ edited by Zlata Filipovic
‘The Other Side of Truth’ and ‘Web of Lies’, both by Beverly Naidoo.

What do you think of the quality of work available today, especially with the publishing scene opening up in India? (what changes would you like to see...)
Not only writing but publishing is steadily improving. I am very optimistic about the current publishing scene. I wish there would be even more growth and visibility for children’s literature of course, but there are some good things happening there as well.

Have you any special projects lined up for 2008?
Yes several projects—
Firstly the publishing of my next novel based in Kashmir called ‘Weed’ published by Roli. This should be out early next year.
Second, I am to be the first writer in residence at the Woodstock school in March-April 2008
Third, here I will be working on my first writings for adults— a collection of short stories and a novel.
Fourth, I am collaborating on a novel for teens with special needs with a Swedish writer who writes in Swedish, which I don’t speak! This is a really exciting project that is the outcome of an Indo-Swedish children’s writers and illustrators workshop that was held in October in Goa.
The book will be written by me, Orjan Persson and illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy. Me in Delhi, him in Sweden and Tanzania and her in Chennai!

Amitabha Bagchi
What have your best reads been this year? And why?
I loved Ha Jin’s ‘A Free Life’— a sweeping document of the first generation Chinese immigrant experience in America. Philip Roth’s ‘Exit Ghost’ was also very exciting, taking Roth’s concerns with sexuality and literature and politics to another interesting level.

 Any Indian authors you are looking forward to reading in the coming year?
I am looking forward to Biman Nath’s novel (‘Nothing is Blue’) being published by HarperCollins some time in 2008, it sounds like an exciting mix of history and astronomy.

What do you think of the quality of work available today, especially with the publishing scene opening up in India? (what changes would you like to see...)

The quantity is beginning to approach a satisfactory level. In the late nineties when there was a lot of talk about Indian English writing I felt that there were not nearly enough people writing, just a few who were very celebrated. Now I feel the numbers are beginning to appear. But the quality is not satisfactory. Often command over language is missing, or storytelling skills are weak. These are aspects that proactive editors can fix to some extent, but at the end of the day we need to have a system where writers are mentored and taught basic aspects of the craft.

Have you any special projects lined up for 2008?
I am hoping to make significant progress on my second novel in the coming year. Hopefully it will be ready for publication in 2009.