How is a writer inspired to write by the scenes she sees and the conversations she overhears

Bilingual novelist and short story writer Anukrti Upadhyay talks about her creative catalysts.

Anukrti Upadhyay

· Nov 09, 2019 · 05:30 pm

Robert Clive reimagined: How to use the techniques of novel-writing for historical figures

The author of a ‘Fortune’s Soldier’, a new novel about Robert Clive, the founder of the British empire in India, explains how to meld facts with fiction.

Alex Rutherford

· Dec 22, 2018 · 10:30 am

Why novelist Sheena Kalayil does not like being boxed as a BAME writer

Broad labels like ‘black, asian and minority ethnic’ – or BAME – do no justice to each unique, individual writer, argues Kalyail.

Sheena Kalayil, The Conversation

· Aug 16, 2018 · 05:30 pm

‘Chattu’ and I: How Chetan Bhagat and I both started our (polar opposite) literary journeys from IIT

Novelist Amitabha Bagchi’s debut work of fiction was also set in IIT Delhi, just like his college senior Chetan Bhagat. But the similarities ended there.

Amitabha Bagchi

· Jul 07, 2018 · 08:30 am

Is the modern world too close for comfort to write about? Two recent books show how it is being done

Tabish Khair’s ‘Night of Happiness’ and Anjum Hasan’s ‘A Day in the Life’ plunge headlong into the unmanageable contemporary.

Saikat Majumdar

· Jun 09, 2018 · 07:15 am

‘My first short story, written at the age of 14, had an unhappy fate. But it rescued me.’

Writer Shazaf Fatima Haider recounts the scandalous beginning to her literary career.

Shazaf Fatima Haider

· May 30, 2018 · 05:30 pm

When a writer reads another, it can sometimes be love (and envy) at first sight

Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar on the moving experience of reading Easterine Kiré’s new novel.

Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar

· Jan 28, 2017 · 01:30 pm

‘I have to criticise religions that oppress women’: Taslima Nasrin at Jaipur Literature Festival

While the exiled Bangladeshi author questioned the presence of secularism in India, Muslim groups protested against her invitation to the event.

Scroll Staff

· Jan 24, 2017 · 11:19 am

'It isn’t autobiography, but it's a daughter’s book in every way': Madeleine Thien

The author talks about her extraordinary novel ‘Do Not Say We Have Nothing’.

Jaya Bhattacharji Rose

· Oct 29, 2016 · 10:00 am

It’s 25 years since ‘A Strange and Sublime Address’ opened the gate to Indian writers in English

Amit Chaudhuri, the author, looks back on his first novel in a conversation with novelist Saikat Majumdar.

Saikat Majumdar

· Sep 11, 2016 · 08:30 am

Growing out of the cocoon: Perumal Murugan is back to life as a writer

What the Tamil author told his readers after announcing his return to writing.

Perumal Murugan

· Aug 23, 2016 · 02:12 pm

Why do people seem so weary with literature? How do we rebuild the alphabet for writing?

A novelist muses on the market, reading, and the need for writers to do it differently.

Anjum Hasan

· Jul 31, 2016 · 08:30 am