Author Kiran Manral
In Conversation with Kiran Manral
SS: “Sometimes, we do not get a chance to thank each one who has helped us in our Journey.”
Let the readers get a chance to know about all the important people who have played a part inthis ‘Author Journey of Yours’.
I have a long-long list. Mom and Dad, of course, for putting the love of books in me. My English teacher in Grade 10, Miss Shirley at Duruelo Convent High School for reading out an essay I’d written to the class, it gave me the confidence I never had. Mrs Srilekha Bose of the English Faculty at Mithibai College for firmly believing that I would one day be a writer and encouraging me in every way.
Parul Sharma and Priyanka Chaturvedi, for pushing me to write that first book, Parul for connecting me to Deepthi Talwar at Westland, to Deepthi for taking a chance on me, an unknown first time author, Ashwin Sanghi for motivating me to keep on writing when no one wanted my second book, Rupa Gulab for connecting me to Rashmi Menon, my editor at Amaryllis, when I had a very different kind of book written, and Rashmi for taking a chance on me, and publishing that book, and my next two books in that same vein.
Vaishali Mathur at Penguin Random House for asking me to write All Aboard after just knowing me off twitter. Shunali Khullar Shroff for helping me to get a cover quote for my book Karmic Kids from a celebrity. Tisca Chopra for so graciously launching my first two books when she barely even knew me. Every single person who has helped me to get the word about my books out, with me having zero budgets for any kind of promotion. I have such a long list of thank yous, and one day I will write it out in full.
SS: You have written a wide range of books, from parenting ones to a gripping novel. Please tellus more about your books. . Are you working on anything at the present about which you wouldlike to share with your readers.
I’ve written across humour, chicklit, romance, parenting, psychological thriller, horror, and non-fiction. There are also stories in the speculative fiction realm, in various anthologies, I love playing with this genre in short fiction and am writing a full length novel in spec-fic too, but that’s still a work in progress. I am also working on a commissioned non-fiction on inspirational women and I hope to have that done soon too. This year, I hope to have two releases out, COVID permitting, one is a humour book, and the other is a dark grim tale.
SS: You were a journalist for a long time. How did you venture into writing full-fledged books?
I’d actually quit journalism, and was a school gate mom. From this I got into mommy blogging, and the mommy blog, which I’ve shut down, became the book KarmicKids. From mommy blogging, I got the confidence to write my first book, and there was no stopping me from there. It’s been nine years and I have ten published books, and two more underway.
Rapid Fire.
1. Favorite Place, Person, Food, beverage….
Mountains of Uttarakhand, my son, Butter chicken naan, coffee
2. Your other Talents….– watercolor painting, singing.
3. Your First Love….
Married him
4. Favorite Quote…..
“Get Up, Dress Up, Show Up”
5. Favorite Character from a book…
Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With The Wind
What if Round.
1. What if you had to live with only three things all your life, what would the three things be?
The mobile phone with wifi, 24 hour room service, hot and cold running water
2. What if you were given the power to change one thing from this world, what would you change?
Poverty.
3. What if you had all the money in this world, what would you do first?
Go on a year- long world cruise
SS: As we celebrate 74th Independence of India this month, how far have the women writers have come in India? What kind of impact Indian female writers are creating in the current literary scenario?
Well, quite far I would say. We’ve always had fabulous women writers both in Indian writing in English and language writing. We’ve had Indian women writers win the top awards at both the national and international level; we’ve seen women writers top the bestselling charts as well.
Women are writing across genres, across what was traditionally thought of as a male domain even in the space of writing, they’re writing books that disturb, question, provoke and shake the status quo. I think we should exult that women writers in India have claimed their space under the sky.
SS: According to you which are the 5 books, everyone should read and also who are your top 3 Authors and what impact they had in your journey as a writer?
Well, I can tell you five books that have been very important to me, whether everyone should read them or not is debatable because not everyone has the same choices and tastes in reading.
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Everything written by P. G. Wodehouse
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome
I think the three authors who have been pivotal in my journey as a reader have been, to begin with Enid Blyton, for the wonderful imaginary worlds she transported me into. Roald Dahl, for his wonderfully evil short stories, done so deftly they’re each masterpieces by themselves. P. G. Wodehouse for creating a universe where nothing really goes wrong and everything gets resolved in the end, giving us a few laughs while we’re at it.
SS: Tell us a bit about your family, likes and dislikes as a person.
Kiran Minral: I lost my father very young and was raised by my mom. I live in Mumbai with my husband, my son and my mother in law. It’s a pretty regular middle class suburban mom life, likes and dislikes as a person would be a rather long list, let’s just leave it at I love to read and I love to write and I am blessed to be able to do both.
SS: Could you share a few tips with our Young Authors?
Read a lot. A lot. And then when you think you’ve read a lot, read some more. Read judiciously. Read good writing. Read what calls to you and not what everyone is reading.
And when you write don’t be in a hurry to be published. Work on your manuscript till it shines.
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