British Writer & Novelist Monica Ali

British Writer & Novelist Monica Ali

When did you first realize you had a gift for storytelling and you want to be a writer?

If you'd told me, when I was a child, that it was possible that one day I would be a published author I'd have thought you were mad. I grew up poor. We didn't have money to buy books. I borrowed books from the library and I was always escaping into novels. But I didn't think people like me could write them and get them published. So I look back with a sense of awe and a little pride.

Who have been the influences in your life? From where do you seek inspiration for your subjects?

They're many and various! But for Love Marriage, I can pinpoint a particular influence. One of my favourite writers is Jane Austen, and her novels centre on engagements and marriage. Through that supposedly narrow domestic sphere she manages to tell us a great deal about society, for example, money (she's very precise about how much, from what source), power, class and the position of women. Today's world looks very different, but the customs, rituals, expectations and family dynamics around engagements and marriage still offer a powerful lens with which to look at cultures and societies.

You wrote 'Love Marriage' after a gap of 10 years, why did it take so long to get back to novel writing?

I stopped publishing due to a loss of confidence. A good dose of self-doubt is essential for a writer, but a total loss of confidence is disastrous. I stopped writing. But that hiatus made me realise there is nothing else I really want to do with my life, other than write!

What compels you to return to writing novels though you have written across genres (short stories, essays as well)?