Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Blog, page 8

An Addendum to Books to Help Your Writing

Friends who write poetry asked if I had a recommendation for them, and I do.

An excellent craft & ideas book for poets is The Poet's
Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry by Kim Addonizio
and Dorianne Laux. They are both wonderful poets themselves.
I also recommend reading what's getting published and what's winning awards; I've always learned a great deal by analyzing actual texts, looking at themes, images, sentence lengths--everything I could think of. This made it easier for me to discern patterns.

Anthologies that I've found valuable:

For fiction, Best American Short Stories and O. Henry Prize Stories
For poetry, Best American Poetry
For fiction and poetry: the Pushcart Prize Anthologies.

In my early writing years, I would buy these, read and re-read them and mark them up. I'd spend a long time with each story, looking at a different element each time, such as Setting or Dialogue.I'd mark these things up with different colored hi-liters.This made it easier for me to discern patterns.

Hope this is helpful. I'd love to know about your favorite craft books/ anthologies and your methods for learning from them.

Books to Help Your Writing

Friends sometimes ask me to recommend books on Creative Writing to them. Below are 2 favorites--I like them for different reasons.

1. Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. Pantheon Books.

This is a more general book, accessible to beginners, very personal, with many anecdotes from Lamott's life. It's also very funny & has many good practical pointers. (Shitty First Drafts, Dialogue, Broccoli). Part One deals with the building blocks of writing, such as Plot, Character, Set Design. Part Two, titled The Writing Frame of Mind, discusses habits that are helpful for a writer to develop, such as observation and learning to turn off the critical voice inside one's head (Radio KFKD). Part Three, Help Along the Way, is about getting outside support. From index cards to writing groups, there's a lot here. Finally, she has a section on publication. I found this book very useful when I was starting off being a writer & often felt alone and worried that my writing was no good.

2. The Half-Known World, by Robert Boswell. Graywolf Press.

This book is also very accessible and filled with wonderful stories from the author's life, but it is, additionally, deep and complex. It gives you some unique ways to think about your writing. Boswell explains why some stories fail (he offers 5 categories of failure, such as the Bastard and the Hipper than thou story) and asks wonderful questions that will help you go deep into the character you are creating (What stupid thing kept her awake last night?). He makes you aware of patterns and designs in texts & teaches you how to look for them in your own fiction.The chapter on Omniscience is excellent. I particularly appreciated the list of fictional works  that appears at the head of each chapter. These are works he refers to in that chapter--so he's giving you a valuable reading list as well. This book will help a range of writers--all the way up to Creative Writing MFA students.

Hope this is helpful. I've been inspired by my own post--I think I'm going to re-read both these amazing books!

Vegetarian Stuffed Green Peppers: A Fusion Dish, with Variations

I was feeling creative the other day and put together the following dish. The family gave it a thumbs up, so I thought I would share it with you. It's pretty quick & easy, which is the kind of recipe I like.

Stem & core 6 large green peppers. Rub salt & oil on them, outside and inside. Microwave on high about 8 minutes, more if you want them softer. While this is happening, you can make the filling.

Heat oven to 400 F.

Filling: In large bowl, mash together: 1 can black beans (with the
liquid) and 6 slices of whole wheat bread. (In my house. no one likes to
eat the end slices, so I used them for this). Add 1/2 cup salsa (or
more or less, depending on how spicy you want it). Optional: Add 1/2 t
of cumin powder. Add salt to taste.

Stuff peppers with filling; top with grated cheese. (I use a Mexican blend cheese).  Bake for 25 minutes until cheese is melted & golden.

It's a pretty complete balanced meal in itself, but if you want you can serve it with your favorite rice or pasta casserole, a green salad and fruit-topped flavored yogurt.

Variation: The boys devoured these & wanted more, and I was out
of green peppers, so I made stuffed zucchini with the same filling. I
sliced 4 zucchinis lengthwise, rubbed oil & salt all over them, and
microwaved them for about 15 minutes. I scraped out the insides of the
zucchinis, mashed and added them into the filling recipe above, added a bit of salt &
black pepper, stuffed the hollowed-out
zucchini halves, topped them with cheese as above, and baked at 400F for 35
minutes.

If you try these, do let me know how yours turned out.

The Greatest Literary Show on Earth: The Jaipur Literary Festival

At the Jaipur
Literature Festival 2011

This is an amazing
festival, quite unlike any of the others I have ever been invited to
participate in, in India or any other country. My friend Pico Iyer who had been
there before told me it would be chaotic, vibrant, effervescent and memorable--and it was all of those things. It made me think of
an Indian wedding, complete with elephants, camels (I rode one, a first for me. I was terrified and jubilant), milling crowds, flower garlands, great food, unexpected camaraderie, and lighted
up centuries-old fortresses as backdrop. (Amer Fort, to be precise, where on the last night
there was an Author Farewell dinner, complete with Qawaali singers and Sufi
dancers). Add to the mix over two hundred writers that presented, and 60,000
(yes, that's right) lovers of literature and music that attended.

As a writer, it was
wonderful for me to speak to a bursting-at-the seams crowd in the historic Durbar Hall of Diggi
Palace, a venue I liked very much. (With my webmaster's help, I hope to put up photos soon). Diggi is a fairly old palace that isn't afraid to show its age.
It hasn't been made over into a 5 star hotel like its more affluent cousins,
but perhaps for that reason, it is more charming with its plain, whitewashed
walls, its overgrown climbing vines and beat-up wooden furniture. And its famed peacocks
(which, alas, we festival goers must have frightened away, because though I
heard much about them, I didn't see any). Its substantial grounds were covered
with tents for the six days, and in one corner of the compound (the stables, I
believe) there were exciting and varied music festivals each night, showcasing traditional
Rajasthani and cutting-edge young Indian/ international talent.

It was heartening to see the
range of attendees--from local schoolchildren to college students who had come
to Jaipur by train and were sleeping on the platform to save money, to intelligensia
and socialites and housewives from major cities  (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru) as well as a plethora of smaller towns (Agra, Jamshedpur, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar), to a roster
of who's who in the publishing industry, to scores of journalists from both
India and abroad.The book sales tent was so crowded, I could barely get in there. Reading in India is indeed alive and well.

It was exciting to hear and
meet writers whose work I admired, such as Ruskin Bond, Chimamanda Adichie and
J.M. Coetzee. It was a pleasure to chat again with writers whom I knew and
whose work I loved, such as Kiran Desai, Adam Zagajewski, Orhan Pamuk, Junot Diaz, John Ford,
and Mohsin Hamid. It was mind-opening to be exposed to talented writers who
were new to me, such as Sonia Faleiro, Arundhati Subramaniam and Rana Dasgupta. It was an
overwhelming embarrassment of riches. After a while, I stopped trying to take notes and just
enjoyed.  But my niece Neela Banerjee, a
writer and journalist who also attended, was more diligent. See her comments at http://neelanjanabanerjee.com/blog/
(the Feb 3 entry) to get a different angle on things.

 I appreciated that the range of writers spanned
several generations and countries, and that they wrote--and presented panels-- in
several languages. I appreciated the excellent team, led by Sanjoy Roy, that
worked very hard to keep things running smoothly and watched out for the needs
of the writers and the attendees--and who were, quite miraculously, able to
offer this grand extravaganza of a literary festival that Tina Brown titles "the
greatest literary show on earth" for free to all who came to listen.

The high moment of the
festival for me was, actually, not a literary one. It was getting my hand
kissed by the 89 year old Syed Haider Raza, an artist whose work I have loved since my college days! He
spoke generously and honestly to a spellbound throng of about a thousand people
about his life, paintings and philosophy. 
It was truly an event to remember.

For more info on the
festival, which runs each year from Jan 21-25, check out their site, http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/

The Greatest Literary Show on Earth

At the Jaipur
Literature Festival 2011

This is an amazing
festival, quite unlike any of the others I have ever been invited to
participate in, in India or any other country. My friend Pico Iyer who had been
there before told me it would be chaotic, vibrant, effervescent and memorable--and it was all of those things. It made me think of
an Indian wedding, complete with elephants, camels (I rode one, a first for me. I was terrified and jubilant), milling crowds, flower garlands, great food, unexpected camaraderie, and lighted
up centuries-old fortresses as backdrop. (Amer Fort, to be precise, where on the last night
there was an Author Farewell dinner, complete with Qawaali singers and Sufi
dancers). Add to the mix over two hundred writers that presented, and 60,000
(yes, that's right) lovers of literature and music that attended.

As a writer, it was
wonderful for me to speak to a bursting-at-the seams crowd in the historic Durbar Hall of Diggi
Palace, a venue I liked very much. (With my webmaster's help, I hope to put up photos soon). Diggi is a fairly old palace that isn't afraid to show its age.
It hasn't been made over into a 5 star hotel like its more affluent cousins,
but perhaps for that same reason, it is more charming with its plain, whitewashed
walls, its overgrown climbing vines and beaten-up wooden furniture. And its famed peacocks
(which, alas, we festival goers must have frightened away, because though I
heard much about them, I didn't see any). Its substantial grounds were covered
with tents for the six days, and in one corner of the compound (the stables, I
believe) there were exciting and varied music festivals each night, showcasing traditional
Rajasthani and cutting-edge young Indian/ international talent.

It was heartening to see the
range of attendees--from local schoolchildren to college students who had come
to Jaipur by train and were sleeping on the platform to save money, to intelligensia
and socialites and housewives from major cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, to a roster
of who's who in the publishing industry, to scores of journalists from both
India and abroad.The book sales tent was so crowded, I could barely get in there. Reading in India is indeed alive and well.

It was exciting to hear and
meet writers whose work I admired, such as Ruskin Bond, Chimamanda Adichie and
J.M. Coetzee. It was a pleasure to chat again with writers whom I knew and
whose work I loved, such as Kiran Desai, Adam Zagajewski, Orhan Pamuk, Junot Diaz, John Ford,
and Mohsin Hamid. It was mind-opening to be exposed to talented writers who
were new to me, such as Sonia Faleiro and Rana Dasgupta. It was an
embarrassment of riches--after a while, I stopped trying to take notes and just
enjoyed.  But my niece Neela Banerjee, a
writer and journalist who also attended, was more diligent. See her comments at http://neelanjanabanerjee.com/blog/
(the Feb 3 entry) to get a different angle on things.

 I appreciated that the range of writers spanned
several generations and countries, and that they wrote--and presented panels-- in
several languages. I appreciated the excellent team, led by Sanjoy Roy, that
worked very hard to keep things running smoothly and watched out for the needs
of the writers and the attendees--and who were, quite miraculously, able to
offer this grand extravaganza of a literary festival that Tina Brown titles "the
greatest literary show on earth" for free to all who came to listen.

The high moment of the
festival for me was, actually, not a literary one. It was getting my hand
kissed by the 89 year old Raza, an artist whose work I have loved since my college days! He
spoke generously and honestly to a spellbound throng of about a thousand people
about his life, paintings and philosophy. 
It was truly an event to remember.

For more info on the
festival, which runs each year from Jan 21-25, check out their site, http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/

Chicken Yogurt Recipe

Here is a recipe, to remember my mother (who recently passed away). Though I am vegetarian now, I remember how delicious it was when I ate it as a child. This is a relatively mild version of what we ate. Adventurous readers can  increase the amount of spices.



Cut into pieces 2 lb boneless skinless chicken thigh or breast.
Marinade for 2-4 hours in 1 cup yogurt (with these spices mixed into the yogurt: 1/2 teaspoon
each--turmeric, red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, black
pep...

Seduced by Facebook

Since my novel One
Amazing Thing was published a couple of months ago, I've been doing a lot
of interviews. At some point, interviewers usually ask me about my use of
social media--my blog, my twitter account, my Facebook author page. I cringe,
because I know what's coming next. "You haven't been too regular about writing
on your blog recently, have you?" I try to make excuses--travel, family
emergencies, a new writing project, Ph.D. dissertations to read at the
university. But I...

A Favorite Holiday Dish from My Childhood: Pakoras

What is it about favorite childhood foods? Somehow they live deep inside our minds and hearts. Foods we learn to eat as adults don't have the same kind of emotional hold on us, don't provide the same comfort. Perhaps this is because they are associated with that simpler time in our lives, those memories of being loved and protected and taken care of unconditionally, of diving headlong into life without worrying about consequences.

My mother used to make this snack on rainy monsoon afternoons ...

A Conversation with Orhan, Part II

Thanks to all of you who contacted me to say that you wanted more of my on-stage interview of Orhan Pamuk. Here are some more of his writing ideas/techniques.

Q: What would you say are some of the pros and cons of being a political writer?

To this, Pamuk responded by stating, quite firmly, that he doesn't consider himself a political writer. Only one of his novels, Snow, has overt political content. In the rest, we see the state of the country as it relates to the lives of the characters. Pamuk...

A Conversation with Orhan Pamuk

The other night, Orhan Pamuk was in Houston,
reading at Zilkha Hall, and I was asked by Inprint, the premiere arts
organization of the city, to interview him onstage. A fascinating man, Pamuk had many
unusual and thought-provoking things to say about writing. Below, I've
paraphrased three of his answers.

 

I started by remarking on the fact that his novels--Snow, My
Name is Red, Black Book, Museum of Innocence--are each very different. I asked
if this is intentional, if he...