Biographies are a curious mix. They are research-based, dependant on facts and yet require the writer's imagination to flesh out the story of a person's life. We talked about the nuances of writing a biography, the craft and the process with Dr Amit Ranjan.

Podcast Guest

Dr Amit Ranjan is a Fulbright Scholar in Residence at FIU, Miami. He has a PhD in literature, as also MPhil and MA from JNU, Delhi; and is BA(Hons) in English from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. His book about John Lang, a maverick anti-colonial figure of 19th century, has been recently published. His poems, short stories, and essays have been published in various journals. Three of his books are forthcoming in 2022 –a non-fiction work on Dara Shikoh, a collection of essays, and a new volume of poetry. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of English at NCERT.  

Writing about an Obscure Historical Character

The conversation started with Amit Ranjan's latest book 'John Lang: Wanderer of Hindoostan, Slanderer of Hindoostanee, Lawyer for the Ranee'. He was an Australian journalist and lawyer who settled in India in the 19th century. The book is about John Lang's life, his exploits, and literary works.

Amit Ranjan spoke about how he chanced about his subject by serendipity. He elaborated on the way he researched about John Lang, which took much time and effort. 

Amit Ranjan also touched on the fact that a writer has to bring his own voice to the subject and write the book in a style that's original. . 

He closed the conversation with a message to all writers trying to build their body of work and to continue writing. Listen till the end of the podcast! 

We had another conversation on Writing a Biography with Chidanand Rajghatta on his book 'Kamala Harris: Phenomenal Woman'. Catch the Live session here.