0:00:00 > 0:00:04Now on BBC News, it's time for Talking Books.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11Hello and welcome to talking books, here at the Birmingham literature
0:00:11 > 0:00:17Festival. Today it is celebrating its 20th birthday. This festival
0:00:17 > 0:00:20brings together writers, poets, speakers and thinkers across the
0:00:20 > 0:00:24whole of the city centre. Today I am talking to Preeti Shenoy, who began
0:00:24 > 0:00:31her career writing a blog that has gone on to become one of India's
0:00:31 > 0:00:41top-selling writers and an influential celebrity.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51You are the only woman, Preeti Shenoy, on the list of India's
0:00:51 > 0:00:55top-selling writers. Why?(LAUGHS)
0:00:55 > 0:00:55Shenoy, on the list of India's top-selling writers. Why?(LAUGHS).
0:00:55 > 0:01:00People like my writing. But is there something you are doing that perhaps
0:01:00 > 0:01:05others are not?I think my books do have an emotional connection, and
0:01:05 > 0:01:11one thing I am not afraid to do is go out there and market my books, I
0:01:11 > 0:01:15think it is important to, if you have written a book, you have to
0:01:15 > 0:01:19have the courage to stand up and say, hey, this is my book, this is
0:01:19 > 0:01:22what I have written about. Because unless you talk about your book and
0:01:22 > 0:01:26unless you believe in the book, why should others? That is one thing
0:01:26 > 0:01:32which I follow.It's a business, in other words.It is, because if your
0:01:32 > 0:01:35books don't sell, your publishers don't make any money, and they won't
0:01:35 > 0:01:40want to publish you.I know you have said in the past, in India, you tend
0:01:40 > 0:01:44to either be a wife or a mother, and given the size of the population, a
0:01:44 > 0:01:49number of women in the workforce is proportionately very low. So I just
0:01:49 > 0:01:54wonder, do you see yourself as a role model for women in India?No,
0:01:54 > 0:01:58here's the thing. I don't see myself as a role model, others seeming as a
0:01:58 > 0:02:03role model, and I am like, oh, what have I done? I don't really think
0:02:03 > 0:02:07about it. I am most comfortable when I am sitting in my hiding hole in my
0:02:07 > 0:02:11home and writing will stop that is when I am most comfortable.Would
0:02:11 > 0:02:16you be comfortable being called a feminist?I don't know, because the
0:02:16 > 0:02:21word feminist has many connotations. I would say that I believe in equal
0:02:21 > 0:02:25rights for men and women, I do believe in equal rights. I think it
0:02:25 > 0:02:30is important as a woman to speak up for what you believe in, and if that
0:02:30 > 0:02:35makes me a feminist, and I am a feminist.You are one of India's
0:02:35 > 0:02:40most successful writers. How easy or difficult is it to make a living as
0:02:40 > 0:02:46a writer in India?If you have gone into the big league, by big-league I
0:02:46 > 0:02:52mean, if you sell something like 30,000 copies or thereabouts, and
0:02:52 > 0:02:57you will get good advances. I have been fortunate, for my first and
0:02:57 > 0:03:00second book I could not make a living out of my writing. But now I
0:03:00 > 0:03:04am nine book sold, so now I can completely make a living out of
0:03:04 > 0:03:08writing, which I am grateful for. But a new author would probably sell
0:03:08 > 0:03:152000 copies, or 2500 copies. Then it would be very difficult. So my
0:03:15 > 0:03:19advice to anyone who wants to make a living out of writing is, just read
0:03:19 > 0:03:25an till you reach the big league. Don't quit your day job. That is how
0:03:25 > 0:03:31it is in India.Does it help if you write in English?In each state in
0:03:31 > 0:03:41clear they have their language, in the regions, the book sales are
0:03:41 > 0:03:46smaller than the National book sales. And also when it comes to me,
0:03:46 > 0:03:51I have never lived in one place for more than more than three years. My
0:03:51 > 0:03:55father had a transferable job. We have these things called Central
0:03:55 > 0:03:58schools in India, you have English, you have Hindi. You simply don't
0:03:58 > 0:04:05have an option to write in English -- but in English.It has been a
0:04:05 > 0:04:10journey for you from being a blogger to one of India's most popular
0:04:10 > 0:04:15writers. Why did you start writing a blog?To be honest I have always
0:04:15 > 0:04:19written, ever since I was a child. My first book was at the age of
0:04:19 > 0:04:25probably seven rate. It was. (LAUGHS). It was a six page book. --
0:04:25 > 0:04:33seven or eight. I read a lot of Enid Blyton, it was inspired from there.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37It was four pages of text into pages of illustrations. And I used to
0:04:37 > 0:04:43wonder, how can anyone write 200 pages or 250 pages? But I had never
0:04:43 > 0:04:48gone public with my writing. I used to take part in Short story
0:04:48 > 0:04:51competitions in college and all about, but first time I went public
0:04:51 > 0:04:58was with my blog, and that was in 2006, October.And what happened,
0:04:58 > 0:05:05why did you do it?In 2006, September, I lost my father all of a
0:05:05 > 0:05:10sudden and it was a shock, I was depressed, I did not know what hit
0:05:10 > 0:05:14me. One moment he was fine, talking to a mother, and the next moment he
0:05:14 > 0:05:18was gone. And he did not have any age-related ailments or anything of
0:05:18 > 0:05:22that sort, and that was the first time I realised that death can be
0:05:22 > 0:05:26that sudden. It felt like someone had pulled the rug out from under my
0:05:26 > 0:05:30feet. To overcome the grief I started a blog, I did not know what
0:05:30 > 0:05:36I was doing, and in fact I started it anonymously. I never put my name
0:05:36 > 0:05:45on it.You use your initials, PS, why was that?I did not know who
0:05:45 > 0:05:50would be reading it. This was in 2006, and when you write something
0:05:50 > 0:05:54you are very vulnerable, you don't know who is going to be reading it,
0:05:54 > 0:05:58you don't know what will happen. So I was afraid. This is why I started
0:05:58 > 0:06:03anonymously.And what were you writing about in those early blogs?
0:06:03 > 0:06:09It was very simple stuff, I realised that even though we don't have
0:06:09 > 0:06:13control over what happens to us, we do have some amount of control over
0:06:13 > 0:06:17what we choose to focus on. So I decided I would focus only on the
0:06:17 > 0:06:22positives. Anything, whatever has happened during the entire course of
0:06:22 > 0:06:27the day, there would be one positive thing that happened. It would be
0:06:27 > 0:06:31very simple stuff like if I saw a rainbow I would be so happy, I would
0:06:31 > 0:06:35write wrappers are at -- I would write about the rainbow. A small
0:06:35 > 0:06:38thing which is positive.And in the beginning you are essentially
0:06:38 > 0:06:43writing for yourself. But gradually, people started to respond to your
0:06:43 > 0:06:48blog. Why do you think it struck such a chord?Probably because there
0:06:48 > 0:06:53is much negativity around us. People like to feel positive, and I think
0:06:53 > 0:06:59they like to read that you can take joy from small things. Which is what
0:06:59 > 0:07:04I did, because I was in a very dark place in 2006, it was all very dark
0:07:04 > 0:07:08for me. The only ray of hope for me was clinging on to that little thing
0:07:08 > 0:07:12that happened, it gave me joy. And I think a lot of people connected with
0:07:12 > 0:07:19that.And then everything changed, in 2007, when one of your blogs was
0:07:19 > 0:07:25picked up by an American radio show host, and it was named "The perfect
0:07:25 > 0:07:31post,", which must have been wonderful. I wonder if you might
0:07:31 > 0:07:42read us an extract from that. It is about someone you refer to as K.I
0:07:42 > 0:07:48will read the last paragraph of it. " Then out of the blue, I got the
0:07:48 > 0:07:54phone call saying K was dead. He had had a massive cardiac arrest, it was
0:07:54 > 0:07:58like a very bad nightmare coming true. I couldn't believe it. This is
0:07:58 > 0:08:02what happened in the movies. How could this even beat? It left me
0:08:02 > 0:08:08frozen, numb speechless. I did not know it then, but it would take me a
0:08:08 > 0:08:11lifetime to recover. It would forever tinged all of my happy
0:08:11 > 0:08:16moments with sadness. It would alter the way looked at life. You see, K
0:08:16 > 0:08:23was not only my friend, he was also my dad."How did people respond to
0:08:23 > 0:08:29that? What sort of things did they say to you.I got a whole lot of
0:08:29 > 0:08:33comments for the post, they were all messages of condolence, and some of
0:08:33 > 0:08:38them did not know that it was fiction, or whether it was real, so
0:08:38 > 0:08:41I told them every word written and that was real. I don't write fiction
0:08:41 > 0:08:46on my blog. All of it was real. It was very touching to get so many
0:08:46 > 0:08:51messages, but it did not help in anyway, it did not come solely on
0:08:51 > 0:08:57anyway.I still the pain. I can see, you are a emotional.-- it did not
0:08:57 > 0:09:06consult me -- console.34 of your most popular posts were brought
0:09:06 > 0:09:11together in a book called 34 Bubblegums and Candies. Which is a
0:09:11 > 0:09:16wonderful and rather unusual title. Actually that book is being
0:09:16 > 0:09:20relaunched, at that time I thought it was great, I was excited. But now
0:09:20 > 0:09:25I have grown as a writer, but when I look at the book, I kind of hide it,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27even though that was... (LAUGHS)
0:09:27 > 0:09:28look at the book, I kind of hide it, even though that was... (LAUGHS). It
0:09:28 > 0:09:34is going to be called Love a Little stronger, because that is more
0:09:34 > 0:09:39relevant. 34 Bubblegums and Candies was interesting, it was like a
0:09:39 > 0:09:43little bubblegum, whatever happens to us, where you keep chewing and
0:09:43 > 0:09:48you extract it and then you discarded, or it can be a candy, a
0:09:48 > 0:09:51little sweet nothing which you swallow you feel good about. Life is
0:09:51 > 0:09:57like that, anything that happens to us, every incident can either be a
0:09:57 > 0:10:02bubblegum or a candy. That was the thought behind naming the book.You
0:10:02 > 0:10:06are very honest in the book, was there any reason to think, oh, I
0:10:06 > 0:10:11better not this in the public domain?No, but here is the thing, I
0:10:11 > 0:10:15did not expect everybody to be reading it, I did not expect to be
0:10:15 > 0:10:20this well-known. So now that is the reason I are relaunching the book, I
0:10:20 > 0:10:27haven't altered anything, I have edited the old stories. But I think
0:10:27 > 0:10:31it is fine to share because I have learnt that when you share you
0:10:31 > 0:10:34become closer to people, because people open up, it is when you open
0:10:34 > 0:10:38up, people open up, and now glad that someone has written about it.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42Someone has shed the pain, someone has shared the joy.Is there
0:10:42 > 0:10:45anything you wouldn't write about? Politics. (LAUGHS)
0:10:45 > 0:10:47anything you wouldn't write about? Politics. (LAUGHS). I would never
0:10:47 > 0:10:52write about politics. I think you have to write about things that
0:10:52 > 0:10:55interest you, that you are passionate about full top and
0:10:55 > 0:11:00politics, I feel it divides people, art, literature, culture, it brings
0:11:00 > 0:11:03people together. So that is one thing I don't write about.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08Nonetheless, it's a big leap from going from writing a blog to writing
0:11:08 > 0:11:15fiction. How difficult it is fine that transition?It was very
0:11:15 > 0:11:18difficult. They are two completely different things. But what happened
0:11:18 > 0:11:24is that after my first book it met with moderate success, it wasn't
0:11:24 > 0:11:28huge successful, so after that first book, we moved to the UK. So I lived
0:11:28 > 0:11:33in Norwich for a while. That was where I wrote my second book. I
0:11:33 > 0:11:37think being in Norwich helped, because I had access to a library.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41The first time I went to the library in the UK, they said "You can take
0:11:41 > 0:11:4815 books. " I was like, wow, 15 books? I had never heard that
0:11:48 > 0:11:53before. Between me, my husband and two children, that is 60 books, we
0:11:53 > 0:11:57would carry them back and I would sit there and browse, and that kind
0:11:57 > 0:12:01of helped because I was reading a loss, I was exposed to a different
0:12:01 > 0:12:05culture, and different country, and that is where my second novel was
0:12:05 > 0:12:10born.You didn't make life easy for yourself, because you chose to write
0:12:10 > 0:12:19about a young woman with bipolar disorder. The book is called Life Is
0:12:19 > 0:12:24What You Make It.When I was living in Norwich I went to an art
0:12:24 > 0:12:31exhibition, and it was beautiful, it kind of Leumeah Way, and they were
0:12:31 > 0:12:36all painted by people with bipolar disorder. -- it kind of blue me a
0:12:36 > 0:12:41way. It was a bipolar artists organisation. I thought this was
0:12:41 > 0:12:45interesting and I wanted to investigate further, and I happen to
0:12:45 > 0:12:50know a psychiatric nurse in the UK so I spoke to her and it got me
0:12:50 > 0:12:53interested. Then I travelled back to India and I went to Bangalore, and
0:12:53 > 0:12:57that is where one of the finest mental health hospitals in India is,
0:12:57 > 0:13:02so I went there, I spoke to people, and gradually the research for the
0:13:02 > 0:13:09book grew. I was quite interested in it, and then I wanted to use a young
0:13:09 > 0:13:13girl, because, you know, people could relate, because I wanted to
0:13:13 > 0:13:17reach out to young people. I wanted to place her in setting that was
0:13:17 > 0:13:21familiar to Indians, so I just chose the places where I had gone to
0:13:21 > 0:13:26college, and that is how the book came about.How openly are mental
0:13:26 > 0:13:31health issues discussed in India?At the time when the book came out,
0:13:31 > 0:13:37which was in 2008, it wasn't discussed very openly. The book was
0:13:37 > 0:13:42a huge kind of, it made an impact. But recently, of late, things have
0:13:42 > 0:13:47changed a lot, people are talking about it.The book has gone on to be
0:13:47 > 0:13:50a tremendous success, it is one of India's highest selling titles, but
0:13:50 > 0:13:55the path to publication was not smooth. It was rejected I think by
0:13:55 > 0:14:00nearly 40 publishers, was that cause of the topic, the subject, do you
0:14:00 > 0:14:06think?I think it was because of the subject, I'd would not know, I sent
0:14:06 > 0:14:12it out to every agent, in India and the UK. I was very hopeful. Every
0:14:12 > 0:14:17agent, the British are very polite, so they would read and say "I will
0:14:17 > 0:14:21get back to you", and I was very hopeful, overcome they are getting
0:14:21 > 0:14:26back! I was very excited. And they would say it was not suitable, they
0:14:26 > 0:14:30would wish me good luck.I got used to it. It must have been
0:14:30 > 0:14:34dispiriting?I never thought the book was in the light of day.
0:14:39 > 0:14:47I said, I have one book, let me ask my publisher. He said to trim it
0:14:47 > 0:14:54down because he was conscious of the cost! LAUGHTER Sadly
0:14:54 > 0:14:55down because he was conscious of the cost! LAUGHTER Sadly that was the
0:14:55 > 0:15:01truth. I know it sounds strange but I will do whatever it takes. So I
0:15:01 > 0:15:06cut it down and that is how that will come was published.Ever since
0:15:06 > 0:15:11then you pretty much published a book a year and one of the
0:15:11 > 0:15:16overriding themes to sum up all your books is the message that life is
0:15:16 > 0:15:21short and unique to seize it by the scruff of the neck. Nonetheless, you
0:15:21 > 0:15:26do put your characters in some pretty challenging situations. I am
0:15:26 > 0:15:32thinking about your second novel, Tea for Two and a Piece of Cake,
0:15:32 > 0:15:38which opens with a woman being left by her husband. Why do you challenge
0:15:38 > 0:15:43your characters in that way?Because I think life is that way. There are
0:15:43 > 0:15:49things in life you cannot control and, also, if you write a novel
0:15:49 > 0:15:54where everything goes smoothly, it would be very boring. Nobody would
0:15:54 > 0:15:58want to read such a novel and I think it is important to show that
0:15:58 > 0:16:03you can have the strength, no matter what happens to you, you can have
0:16:03 > 0:16:07the strength to overcome whatever has happened to you and I think that
0:16:07 > 0:16:10is one message which I want to convey and it is why I put my
0:16:10 > 0:16:14characters in difficult situations because that is real life, life is
0:16:14 > 0:16:19not going to be easy.Something else to return to is the subject of
0:16:19 > 0:16:25arranged marriage. Sometimes on the marriage but sometimes head-on, I'm
0:16:25 > 0:16:34thinking of your fourth novel, The One You Cannot Have.Arranged
0:16:34 > 0:16:42marriages are very common. They are not understood by the Western world
0:16:42 > 0:16:48but in India, even to this day, people marry the person whom their
0:16:48 > 0:16:53parents choose and, of course, the Rat people who have loved marriages
0:16:53 > 0:17:00also but arranged marriage is a reality in India.Still in this
0:17:00 > 0:17:03world of increasing globalisation, young people still want to obey
0:17:03 > 0:17:07their parents wishes to smack at least they wanted their parents
0:17:07 > 0:17:15approval.--?. In India family always comes first and it is very
0:17:15 > 0:17:21important for a person who is getting married to have his mothers
0:17:21 > 0:17:26and fathers are provable. It is a very close-knit bond. The bonds are
0:17:26 > 0:17:31very close in India and that is why arranged marriages still exist.It
0:17:31 > 0:17:40brings us to your latest novel, It's All in the Planets, a boy and a girl
0:17:40 > 0:17:45who meet but they have a already been promised to other partners.I
0:17:45 > 0:17:52was on a train journey myself, travelling from Delhi for a book
0:17:52 > 0:17:56launch, the launch of my previous book and I opened the newspaper and
0:17:56 > 0:18:01I saw the ZX sign and all of us read it just for fun, we may not believe
0:18:01 > 0:18:07it, we may believe it, and I said, what is this forms the start of
0:18:07 > 0:18:12every chapter in a novel? There would be a prediction and you would
0:18:12 > 0:18:17come to know by the end of the chapter is the prediction has come
0:18:17 > 0:18:24true or not. I thought it would be very interesting. I live in
0:18:24 > 0:18:30Bangalore and a lot of people are overweight because they let
0:18:30 > 0:18:34themselves go after they got a job and that is how that book came
0:18:34 > 0:18:40about. The idea came to me and a basin of several people I know.Is
0:18:40 > 0:18:45that how books come to you, are they inspired but things that have
0:18:45 > 0:18:50happened to you, people you know? Usually, most of the time.Does
0:18:50 > 0:18:57anyone ever might? Here's the thing, I change it so it must so if it is a
0:18:57 > 0:19:02male, I would probably make him a female character because the call is
0:19:02 > 0:19:08what I am concerned with Sadeghi do not recognise themselves. All
0:19:08 > 0:19:12writers borrow from real life, from things that have happened to them
0:19:12 > 0:19:17and I know different.Your latest novel, about to be published, I note
0:19:17 > 0:19:23you have said it is your most personal to date and have drawn
0:19:23 > 0:19:29about your experiences.It is a story about a young man who travels
0:19:29 > 0:19:36back to his native village in Kendriya Vidyalayas. He's raised in
0:19:36 > 0:19:42Bahrain, and he comes back to work and he has a very domineering father
0:19:42 > 0:19:48and a huge ancestral property were his grandfather lives. His
0:19:48 > 0:19:57grandfather is a grumpy old man. In his 80s. Kendriya Vidyalayas the
0:19:57 > 0:20:02slot even have Internet connectivity. The boy goes and talks
0:20:02 > 0:20:09to his grandfather and the story proceeds from there. The real hero
0:20:09 > 0:20:17is the 80-year-old grandfather.Why is it so personal to you?Is he your
0:20:17 > 0:20:23dad? The old man is actually based on my grandfather. My mother lives
0:20:23 > 0:20:29in tiny village in Kendriya Vidyalayas and every summer vacation
0:20:29 > 0:20:34I used to go back and there was a huge ancestral home that I spent at
0:20:34 > 0:20:42least two months in and what inspired the book is exactly like my
0:20:42 > 0:20:46ancestral home. It was lovely to reminisce, it brought back so many
0:20:46 > 0:20:51memories. When I was writing I was honouring those memories, the
0:20:51 > 0:21:02Times...I was struck by a comment in It's All in the Planets which it
0:21:02 > 0:21:08said the early books account at literary fiction.I get asked all
0:21:08 > 0:21:15the time. I find that in India, there is a sharp divide. I would
0:21:15 > 0:21:21presume it is the same in the UK and the world over. Literary fiction are
0:21:21 > 0:21:28the guys who went the prizes. I think it is important for your story
0:21:28 > 0:21:32to have the connect with the audience whether it is literary
0:21:32 > 0:21:37commercial fiction, you have to tell a good story. That was the reason
0:21:37 > 0:21:43why one of my characters said that comment.I just wondered, you write
0:21:43 > 0:21:48heartwarming stories about love and friendship and relationships and
0:21:48 > 0:21:52romance and I wonder if you think you might be taken more seriously as
0:21:52 > 0:21:57a writer if you wrote about politics, for example?I do not
0:21:57 > 0:22:02think you have to write about politics to be taken seriously. My
0:22:02 > 0:22:09next book is completely different. I do is tell people, wait for my next
0:22:09 > 0:22:13book because I always feel a better myself with each book and as regards
0:22:13 > 0:22:18to serious writing, I have been published in the world, and I shall
0:22:18 > 0:22:23stories tend to be very dark. I tell people, if you want that kind of
0:22:23 > 0:22:30writing, it read my short stories. There is no redemption, there is no
0:22:30 > 0:22:38happy, which is there in my novels. When I tell my readers about my
0:22:38 > 0:22:45short stories I warn them they are dark. They always see this happy,
0:22:45 > 0:22:52warm person but that is not always true.Preeti Shenoy thank you to us.
0:22:52 > 0:22:58It's been a wonderful. Thank you having me.