INKED IN PUNJAB

New York author Manreet Sodhi Someshwar on the Punjab factor in her writing, the recent farmer protests, and #MeToo element in her new book

- Neha Kirpal

New York-based bestselling writer of five books Manreet Sodhi Someshwar was hailed as ‘a star on the literary horizon’ by the great writer Khushwant Singh. She has also won accolades from none other than lyricist Gulzar for two of her books. Manreet’s work has been featured at literary festivals in Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, India and New York. Her book The Radiance of a Thousand Suns (HarperCollins, 2019) recently won the PFC-VOW Book Award as well as the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity (Fiction).

She talks to eShe about her unique trajectory as a writer, her thoughts on the farmer protests in Punjab and igniting #MeToo conversations in her new book Girls and the City (HarperCollins India, 2020).

The Radiance of a Thousand Suns includes various incidents in history such as Partition, 9/11, Emergency and the 1984 Sikh riots. What inspired you to pick these subjects to write about?

The Radiance of a Thousand Suns is about Niki’s determination to complete her dead father’s unfinished book, his life’s work, which takes her from India to New York City. The narrative spans the cataclysms of Partition and 9/11, via the brutality of Emergency and the pogrom of 1984, and stretches from India to New York. Admittedly, it is a broad canvas, one that I have wrestled with for many, many years. To echo that famous dialogue from the film Damini: “Draft pe draft, draft pe draft, draft pe draft likhti gayi, par manuscript nahin mila.” Until it finally did. Phew!