NRIs contributing to Indian literature!

NRI writers can contribute a lot to the growth of India's literature and the ever-expanding books market as a fitting tribute to the country they were born in, says author Amitav Ghosh.

NRI writers can contribute a lot to the growth of India's literature and the ever-expanding books market as a fitting tribute to the country they were born in, says author Amitav Ghosh.

"We already have some great NRI writers - V S Naipaul, Jhumpa Lahiri and Salman Rushdie to name a few. More and more people (NRIs) are now into writing," he says.

"All these happen together. So many new authors have come up. And this can really keep the Indian book market growing," Ghosh told PTI.

"And this is the best way we can contribute to the country's literature," he says.

According to Ghosh, it is really encouraging that India has emerged as the biggest market for books which is expanding very rapidly.

"All these things really encourage writers. We have some really good writers - Tabish Khair, Anjum Hasan, Amitab Bagchi and Chetan Bhagat among others. They have done really well. Some of my contemporaries are great writers. And this in a way helps in the growth of each others," asserts Ghosh, whose Sea of Poppies was recently released by Penguin.

The first in his new trilogy of novels, Sea of Poppies talks about a vast ship - the Ibis and its tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean to the Mauritius Islands with a motley array of sailors and stowaways, coolies and convicts.

HT Image

Subjects like Indian diaspora, exile and migration interest Ghosh very much.