Speaking Volumes

The Dairy of a Social Butterfly flits through Pakistani social life and lands smack in London. Droll and full of localised accents, the recently published book is a collection of London-based Pakistani writer Moni Mohsin’s columns over the past few years. Verve catches up with the earnest writer to exchange a few words on the tenuous nature of relationships in the subcontinent, the role a writer plays and the sentimentalisation of literature
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Self-effacing and witty, Anuja Chauhan is one promising debut novelist. Hailing from the world of advertising, she plays with words and twists them around without a modicum of doubt. Her effortless and light-hearted writing style in The Zoya Factor evidently springs from her personality. Verve talks to the happily married mother of three who likes to potter around her house and her plants, paint her own walls and furniture, knit socks, read voraciously and play the piano by ear
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Jaishree Misra’s new fiction novel, Rani, is based on a doomed love story of Rani Lakhshmibai of Jhansi. Verve meets the author at Imli, in London’s Soho, for a freewheeling chat
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Inspired by more than a single muse, she blends various art forms to add a new dimension to her work. In an interview with Verve, award-winning novelist Abha Dawesar, who gave up a cushy finance job to weave magic through words, talks about issues close to her heart
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She speaks fluent Italian and has spent most of her life in Europe. Sipping white wine whilst tucking into a healthy salad at Pizza Express in London, Reshma Ruia spills the beans about her first book, Something Black in the Lentil Soup, which is the literal translation of the Hindi phrase, ‘dal mein kuch kaala hai’
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On her recent visit to Mumbai, award-winning novelist, Bapsi Sidhwa, speaks about penning her first novel in secret, surviving a bomb scare and her love for the Parsi community
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