Mysuru Lit Fest 2020: Writers speak on their beginning

The panellists of the session ‘Writers on Their Beginnings’ of the Mysuru Literature Festival 2020 was a mix of varied cultures and ethnicities of the sub-continent.

V V Ganeshananthan, spoke from Minneapolis in the United States, is the author of the novel ‘Love Marriage’, which was longlisted for the Orange Prize and named one of Washington Post Book World’s Best of 2008.

She teaches fiction and nonfiction writing in the MFA programme at the University of Minnesota. She is a Sri Lankan Tamil.

Preeta Samarasan, who spoke from France, is a Malaysian Tamil. She is the author of the novel ‘Evening Is The Whole Day’ as well as of numerous short stories and essays.

‘Shelf Awareness’

Soniah Kamal, who spoke from Atlanta, in the United States, is an award-winning novelist, essayist, public speaker and a lifetime member of Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA).

Her novel ‘Unmarriageable: Pride & Prejudice in Pakistan’ is featured on PBS Books. ‘Publishers Weekly’ hails it a ‘must-read for devout Austenites’. ‘Shelf Awareness’ says, if Jane Austen lived in modern-day Pakistan, this is the version of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, she might have written’.

Tania James, who spoke from Washington, DC, the United States, is a US-born Malayali.

She is the author of ‘The Tusk That Did the Damage’, ‘Aerogrammes and Other Stories’, and ‘Atlas of Unknowns’. Tusk was named a Best Book of 2015 by The San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, and NPR, and was shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize.