Author Spotlight ✨
Sreya Sarkar
Freelance writer. Social thriller author. Literary rollercoaster.
Hello everyone! We’re back with another amazing female author. Today we’re thrilled to spotlight Sreya Sarkar in a special author interview that dives into her work, her process, and the stories that move her. ✨
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Meet the Author
Sreya Sarkar is a freelance writer from Massachusetts, with her fingers dipped in multiple writing projects. A public policy professional by training, she writes socio-political columns for Indian news magazines. She also pens poems and short stories for literary magazines. Recently she published her debut novel, Beneath The Veneer, a women-centric social thriller based in a fictitious satellite town near Delhi, India.
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When did your love for writing start?
I was a fussy eater when I was little and the only way I would finish my meals was when my mother told me stories. Her amazing storytelling planted in me the germ of wanting to read. The more I read the more I wished to write. I maintained journals since my middle school days in which I would pen down my observations and feelings. My training in political science required me to write analytical reports and opinion pieces but it was not until my thirties that I could gather the courage to write fiction.
Of all of the book genres, what drew you to write about yours?
I have sometimes struggled to understand the water-tight compartmentalization of genres. For me, a good book is one that is allowed to straddle different genres according to the demand of the story. If I had to choose though I think I am drawn to the genre of mystery the most and I
wanted to write a book that would have multiple layers of discoveries. Also, a lot of the material I have drawn from for the book comes from newspaper reports that had a strong investigative side.
What is one thing about other people’s writing that you can’t stand?
I appreciate all thoughts and jots of everyone as they evolve out of one’s subconsciousness. Anyone who sits to write is truly involved in it for they pour their heart and soul into it. Hence, there can be suggestions for improvements but never any dislike towards it. Because the universal truth is that, “Opinion Differs”!
What is one thing about your own writing that you can’t stand right now?
The one thing about writing that I can’t stand these days is how critical I have grown towards the process. There was a time when I looked forward to writing but these days I sometimes hide from my desk because I don’t know how I will react to my last day’s draft. My response oscillates between “It’s horrible” to “It’s good” and the later euphoric reaction is very rare. I have to accept the fact that my writing cannot be consistent all the time and that’s fine. I am bound to have not-a-good day and I should grow the patience to endure it and let it pass.
What makes your book(s) and writing unique?
After reading Beneath the Veneer some of my readers shared that I choose to go to places often overlooked and avoided as they are bound to remind one of harrowing experiences. The topics chosen are sensitive and the details included are often unnerving and too real. These comments have not always come in the form of compliments. Some pointed out that reading the book made them feel emotionally spent but at the same time, they couldn’t wait to finish it. I choose to see the positive in this. I write with a range of emotions that are often conflicted and I appreciate it when readers join me in my literary rollercoaster ride.
So… what are you working on now?
Right now I am working on a climate change fiction or a cli-fi that takes readers to the flooded city of Kolkata in India twenty-five years into the future. It will have a good dose of both speculative and realistic depictions of the future to engage readers about the kind of future waiting for their future generations but this time I am trying a different approach. I am trying to give it a comic treatment for a serious topic like climate change can only be swallowed smoothly with a dollop of humor.
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“I write with a range of emotions that are often conflicted and I appreciate it when readers join me in my literary rollercoaster ride.”
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Beneath The Veneer
Dive into Sreya’s women-centric social thriller set in a fictitious satellite town near Delhi, India.
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Connect with Sreya
Follow Sreya online and continue the conversation.
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