As part of our #BookChatter conversations on reading, writing and publishing, we spoke to Sharanya Manivannan about nurturing writing talent. We discussed it in the Indian context, about the opportunities for writers wanting to hone their craft and to be published.

Our Podcast Guest Sharanya Manivannan

Sharanya Manivannan is the author of six books. She writes and illustrates fiction, poetry, children's literature and non-fiction. Her work has won a South Asia Laadli Award, and been nominated for The Hindu Prize, The JCB Prize, The Neev Book Award and other honours.

Here are some of the excerpts from the podcast:

1. Over the past few years, publishing has exploded. With access to self-publishing and vanity publishing, there are more books churned out today than perhaps a decade earlier. But with the gatekeepers to publishing gone, are we compromising on quality?

Sharanya: In a healthy publishing ecosystem there should be many options. Some genres like poetry has always benefited from self publishing. Other genres need the infrastructure push that large publishers provide. It depends on the kind of book and the author's expectations. As a reader, it's good to have so many options. Some parameters of quality can be problematic, classism for example, and many kinds of biases. If someone with a valuable work chooses his own publishing avenue, there's no harm in that.

2. We often say that in a country of one billion, there's enough talent to produce sports stars. Can we say the same about writing talent? Do we need to catch them young?

Sharanya: It depends entirely on what one sees as the purpose of art. Why should it be to bring accolades? Nurturing of any talent should be for the sake of what creativity can bring to an individual. Creativity and accomplishment are not the same thing. Go a little deeper. Think what's the value of writing of the writer who does not publish.

Being a star is just a small percentage but creativity is for everybody. The pathways to success are unclear.

3. Do we need formal training for writing to flourish? If yes, are the costs prohibitive? If no, what's there to identify and to polish potential?

Sharanya: In the classrooms, what we do need are encouraging teachers. Language, literature, grammar are all there, being taught. The reason why poetry is considered difficult by adults is because of the way they were taught poetry in school. 

If the love for reading and writing is inculcated at an earlier stage, so many more people would stay with writing. 

4. What's the scene in India for support to writers? I am talking about scholarships, grants, writer support groups, writing residencies etc.

Sharanya: Competitive opportunities such as awards by their very nature recognise very few while dozens or hundreds of participants feel discouraged. A healthy support system is one in which many can thrive. In this context, we need to talk about capitalism, who gets opportunities. These are conversations, not situations where we have solutions. What about thousands of people who are writing or creating in a sustainable way. The costs are there, not in terms of trainings but in writer residencies. There is a privilege begets privilege kind of situation. I can understand why an emerging writer may think these are opportunities but they don't really influence your being able to create, or your reach, and the more we question it all, the healthier the ecosystem is.

Being solution oriented is the way forward. I believe that the change needs to come at the school level.

There are also things that one can do in small groups. The idea is finding time and holding space for creative pursuits. You need to have relationships and conversations with other creative people. Focus on your work. That is the first step. It helps more than going for a course or submitting to a contest. A supportive ecosystem keeps you thriving.

The disillusionment of being published and it not changing your life, that's something we writers should talk about.

The love of your work keeps you going, no matter how visible your career becomes or does not. Nurture that love. In many cases, especially when there's not privilege or having difficult circumstances, what keeps the person going is that love.

5. One aspect of writing is the earnings. We hear about writers being bank clerks (or any other job) by day and writers by night. Can a writer be self-sustained? Can it be a rewarding career?

Sharanya: It is impossible for a writer working in English language in India today to make a living from their books. Every reader and every aspiring writer in this country should be aware of this.

Readers are a very important part of this ecosystem. They need to understand that often it is the writers who have to spend to send out review copies. The other thing is piracy. There are amazing libraries and bookshops, support them. Then you are still supporting the overall ecosystem of reading, writing, publishing.

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