Reykjavík Grapevine - 12.04.2019, Síða 26

Living In Three
Different Realities
Indian author Anuradha Roy on her origins
as an author and the importance of writing
Words: Phil Uwe Widiger
Indian-born novelist Anuradha Roy lives in
a small cottage, surrounded by deep forest,
in the Indian Himalayas with her husband
and their three dogs. Anurahda has writ-
ten and published four novels, often draw-
ing inspiration for her stories from her own
life.
The author’s needs
“The perfect setting for me to write is at
home, at my desk, with a few warm dogs
playing around next to me, badgering me to
walk them—so I have the perfect excuse to
stop working,” Anuradha says.
Ever since her mother gave her a blank
notebook at the age of five or six, Anuradha
was conquered by a passion for literature,
and has never stopped writing.
“When I was fourteen, a newspaper be-
gan publishing my stories every now and
then and even paid me,” she recounts. “So
I have never been without writing—it is
something I need to do.”
Up to three realities at a time
For Anuradha, novels provide the space to
play around with different forms and ideas,
and she cherishes the time needed to fully
create the world in which the protagonists
live, and of course the characters them-
selves.
“I discover the characters and the book
through the writing of it, and I like to oc-
cupy unhurried years in this parallel world
I am creating,” she explains. “I have always
lived two or three realities at a time: a few
that are in the books I am reading or writ-
ing, and another that is visible to people.”
A lifelong sense of betrayal
The author’s most recent novel, ‘All the Lives
We Never Lived’, mixes history with fiction
and several types of writing, such as trans-
lations from a travelogue from the 1920s
and excerpts from memoirs. Published in
2018, the story revolves around Myshkin, a
young man that is trying to come to terms
with the lifelong sense of betrayal as his
mother leaves him behind in search of her
own freedom, while his father is fighting to
free India from British rule in the years be-
fore the Second World War.
“I haven’t written a book of this com-
plexity before: it combines many voices and
times and is political as well as deeply in-
trospective,” Anuradha explains.
Anuradha is visiting Iceland—a place
she had imagined as “a kind of giant refrig-
erator made of ice blocks” as a child—for
the first time for the Reykjavík Internation-
al Literary Festival.
Reykjavik International
Literary Festival 2019
The process of adaptation and adaptability
Words: Sam Daniels Photos: Gassi
It is that time of year again. The time when
our vocabularies widen and the delightful
composite scent of paper, ink and glue per-
meates the subtle aroma of spring. We’re
speaking, of course, about the Reykjavík In-
ternational Literary Festival.
For more than 30 years, this festival has
attracted a number of authors to Iceland to
share their love of the written word with
like-minded individuals. The authors par-
ticipating range from up and coming writ-
ers who have exploded onto the scene to
multi-award winners from all around the
world. The festival also extends an invita-
tion to the wider literary community—pub-
lishers, editors, translators and more will
be participating.
This year, for the first time, the festival
will award the Halldór Laxness Interna-
tional Literary Prize, to be announced on
April 25th.
“We’re working with a theme of adapt-
ability, how we adapt to different circum-
stances,” explains festival director Stella
Soffía Jóhannesdóttir. “Our aim is to intro-
duce interesting international authors to
readers in Iceland and give readers here an
insight into what is happening in literature
around the world.”
The festival is free to attend, which Stella
emphasizes is important to the organizers.
“The festival has always been open and free
for everyone. Literary enthusiasts will get
to know new and interesting authors, and
see and hear authors they already admire.”
Stella enthuses about the festival as a
wonderful platform, saying that the varied
programme means “everyone should find
something interesting.”
“I have never
been without
writing —
it is something
I need to do.”