Anuradha has been working in the field of academics for the past 23 years. She has emerged as an acclaimed author too in addition to a dedicated Pedagogue .
Being a wife of an army officer, she has travelled extensively in India and has lived in numerous states. She loves this gypsy life and her stories reflect the observations that she has made from different parts of the country.
Poetry writing is Anuradha’s passion and she writes prolifically. The Musings of a Wandering Mind, is her poetry anthology, which also has her long poetry, Song of Life: A poetic retelling of Mahabharatha which is Mahabharata in condensed manner, touching upon important events of Mahabharata.
Apart from the poetry anthology she is a published author of two other books The Mysterious Widows of Mehboobpura which is a realistic thriller and her second book, Ayasam: Epic tale of King Gavi, is a historical fiction, based on Saraswati valley civilization. Anuradha’s latest book is The Essence of Draupadi which is a short story anthology and delves in the lives of women from various walks of life and how life of Draupadi, the Queen of Indraprastha, the heroine of Mahabharata helped them gain insight, inspiration is the premise of each story. Here are the excerpts of our conversation with the Author.
Q. Will you be writing more stories about women or we should expect a new novel from you?
A. I like to write women stories, although I am not writing one this time, I am in the process of writing a novel which you can call historical fiction with a contemporary theme.
Q. Your first novel was a thriller, then you wrote a mythological fiction, your third one was a poetry anthology, then a collection of short stories about women. What makes you dabble into different genres and unlike other authors why are you not holding to one genre?
A. See every writer writes in his comfort zone. What do writers write? Experiences, anecdotes and stories which they have seen, heard or felt. All authors try to write what they remember, believe in or what they want to share with the world. While doing so they get into a narration style. They gain control and more insight while doing it again and again. It becomes their forte. With me that is not so. I also wrote what I wanted to share. I have been a story teller all my life. I like to tell stories. Stories take root in my mind and then they jump on the paper. But I could never restrict myself to one genre. I myself would love to find out which is my preferred genre but till date it has not happened so.
Q. What ticks you to write and why do you think that readers should read your books?
A. Like I mentioned before, I am a storyteller, and I like to tell stories, so I write them. I write realistic stories, my stories resonate with many, they have a vividness in them. Due to not finding a genre of my own I have a right mix of stories ranging from thrillers, mythological fiction, women stories ….. so the readers have to choose amongst them or read all of it; they have a choice.
Q.What do you like to read? And do you get influenced by the books that you read?
A.I mostly read thrillers, historical/mythological fiction, slice of life, autobiographies. Actually a wide range, leaving aside sci-fi and horror.
Yes I do get inspired although not influenced. I admire writers works
Q.Where is your writing journey heading towards? I mean do you feel that you have progressed by way of your books?
A. I have not planned my writing career as such. I write what I feel I must write. I don’t plan in accordance with awards, money or any ceremonies. Talking about progress, certainly I have made progress. With every book you learn something by way of researching, reading, writing . You meet new people. Then if I look back from the times of my first year, when I wrote my first book. I didn’t know anything about publishing, but now I know how the publishing industry works. So yes I have made progress.
Q. What do you think about today’s trend of adapting books to large screen?
A. It is a good trend. Since reading books is taking a back seat and it is an audio visual world. The OTT platforms are in constant search of stories. The writers get a chance to earn some mullahs and producers get stories and the audience get a good story to watch. So it’s a win-win situation for all.