Arundathi Roy. Photo: AFP / Axel Schmidt
Speaking at the Sharjah International Book Fair, Roy announced that she was writing a second book, but stopped short of
revealing more details.
On the experience of writing 'God of Small Things', Roy said: "The book took me over and even if I had wanted to escape from it, I couldn't."
Roy, who won the 1997 Man Booker Prize for fiction, said, when she writes essays, she feels a part of the people of India.
"Writing is in my DNA. When you write you must be accurate about the detail, space and place. I think fishermen must make good writers they spend so much time keeping quiet and plotting against the fish," she told a packed audience that included Consul General of India in Dubai Sanjay Verma.
"Fiction is lonely business and writing a book is like being in jail," she said.
Asked about how she decided to be a writer, 50-year-old Roy said: "I have never been particularly ambitious. I am not a careerist, I am not trying to get anywhere in a career. It is more important to engage with society, to live it, to have different experiences."
Roy further said that if given the chance, she would not rewrite her famous novel.
"I don't have the urge to rewrite. Not because I think it is perfect but I am not the type to keep changing something when it is finished."