Sonali Dev
I have actually written for as long as I can remember. It's possibly one of my earliest memories. I always had a lot to say and writing was my way to keep on talking after everyone had stopped listening to my stories and opinions.
As for being inspired to be a writer, one of my uncles was a Marathi writer and a poet and he always encouraged my writing, but warned me about the unpredictability of writing as a source of income. Instead of being turned off by the warnings, that just taught me that you wrote because you had to write, and everything else followed or didn't.
The authors whose writing inspired me to write are:
Jane Austen, first and foremost, because she is the mother of Romance and because her romances poked fun at social customs and at love without ever taking either one of those lightly.
The Marathi author, P L Deshpande, who wrote humorous stories and plays that cut through social masks to pinpoint the ridiculous, the flawed, and the human with such unapologetic sharpness that as a reader there was never anywhere to hide. He actually helped me begin to understand what they mean when they say ‘Write The Truth’ (not that I really understand what that means—maybe it’s time to listen to some of his plays again?)
Vikram Seth, who wrote The Suitable Boy. Because, well, he wrote The Suitable Boy.
As for being inspired to be a writer, one of my uncles was a Marathi writer and a poet and he always encouraged my writing, but warned me about the unpredictability of writing as a source of income. Instead of being turned off by the warnings, that just taught me that you wrote because you had to write, and everything else followed or didn't.
The authors whose writing inspired me to write are:
Jane Austen, first and foremost, because she is the mother of Romance and because her romances poked fun at social customs and at love without ever taking either one of those lightly.
The Marathi author, P L Deshpande, who wrote humorous stories and plays that cut through social masks to pinpoint the ridiculous, the flawed, and the human with such unapologetic sharpness that as a reader there was never anywhere to hide. He actually helped me begin to understand what they mean when they say ‘Write The Truth’ (not that I really understand what that means—maybe it’s time to listen to some of his plays again?)
Vikram Seth, who wrote The Suitable Boy. Because, well, he wrote The Suitable Boy.
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