Q&A: Amit Chaudhuri

Amit Chaudhuri was born in Kolkata in 1962, and grew up in Mumbai. A professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, Chaudhuri is the author of five novels, the latest of which is “The Immortals”, which was a New Yorker, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe and Irish Times Best Book of the Year. His first novel, “A Strange and Sublime Address” is included in Colm Toibin and Carmen Callil’s “Two Hundred Best Novels of the Last Fifty Years”.

He is also a vocalist in the Indian classical tradition. His project in crossover music has been performed all over the world, and he has been a featured artiste on flagship culture programmes on television and radio in the United Kingdom.

Chaudhuri will take part in the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, which will be held in Dubai from March 4 to 8.

To become a writer, one needs to read a lot. Do you agree?

Certainly. And you often read in genres other than the one you principally practise. I still love reading poetry and, in prose, the essay more than other forms.

Do you think books can change or influence societies?

Depends on what kind of books you mean, and whether it’s short-term change you’re talking about. Literature changes the way we think as much as anything else, but the effects of literature need to be argued for and reassessed constantly for them to even begin to be understood.

When and where do you like to read?

Almost the only time I get to read at leisure these days is when I fall ill. Odd as it might sound, I often read and reread during the day, sometimes between spells of writing or practising music.

Who is your perfect reader?

A reader who seeks delight rather than illumination or denouement.

Do you hang on to books or pass them around when you are done reading?

I’m happy to lend books occasionally, but I like to hang on to my favourites, since I often refer to them.

If you could recommend one book, which one would it be?

Perhaps a compendium of Fernando Pessoa’s poetry.

What do you think of literature festivals?

They’re a necessary part of the retail and PR industry of publishing (with the gradual receding of bookshops and even publishers), a faux celebration of writing that intermittently becomes the real thing, and they’re nice in small doses.

What are you expecting from Dubai litfest?

Excitement, hospitality, and the miracle of readers.

Do you have any literary role models?

No, as I have no clear idea of roles.