Who would author Jenny Colgan want on an airplane seat next to her? “It would have to be someone like Douglas Adams,” says Jenny on an Instagram Live with author Monisha Rajesh. These were people who knew things about the world that the average person doesn’t, she goes on to explain. “I can for instance, learn to play music, but I am never going to be like, ‘So quarks are…’” she laughs.
The romantic fiction and science fiction author, who has written for the Doctor Who line of stories, was the second guest on Monisha’s new Instagram series, Literary Lockdown. Every day this week, she sits down with best-selling authors firing 20 questions at them, about everything under the sun: ‘What would your ideal Friday night be?’ ‘Who would you share your last bottle of wine with?’,’What is your favourite restaurant?’
Author Jenny Colgan
The only thing she doesn’t bring up: their work. “A lot of focus over the lockdown has been about books and what everyone is reading and I think authors have started to get a little tired of talking about their work and writing all the time,” says Monisha. “I deliberately came up with questions that weren’t related to their writing and explored everything that they would be doing or seeing or watching if they weren’t under lockdown. Restaurants they love, music that makes them dance, people they wish they could hug right now.”
The authors invited this week are Jeet Thayil, Jenny Colgan, Jessie Burton, Charles Cumming and Mira Jacob. Next week’s line-up includes William Dalrymple and Nikesh Shukla.
“I wanted a mix of authors from different backgrounds who write different genres, for example Mira Jacob, who writes graphic memoirs, Charles Cumming who writes spy fiction thrillers and Jenny Colgan who writes romantic comedy fiction,” says Monisha, who has written a travel non-fiction, Around The World in 80 Trains .
At home, Monisha’s time right now is split between cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, grocery shopping, child-rearing and entertaining, “...while my husband tries to hide in a cupboard and work,” she says. Her own writing has now taken a backseat. “I have a three-year-old who is usually at nursery four days a week, and a nine-month-old baby who you can’t really leave alone for more than 10 minutes without her being knocked over by her sister or finding stray bits of paper and bricks to stick in her mouth.”
These live chats have then come as a breath of fresh air for her and the authors’ followers on Instagram. She recounts the chat with Jeet Thayil, and calls him predictable in his unpredictability. “There is never a dull moment when talking to him. For one of the questions, I offered him two pills: one that would allow you to see into your future and one that would allow you to go back into your past. In typical Jeet fashion he said he would take both so that his mind would expand forwards and then backwards and he would end up exactly where he is now.”
Indian writer Jeet Thayil poses at his home in New Delhi on September 20, 2012. Thayil was shortlisted for Britain's prestigious Booker Prize for his work "Narcopolis", which explores heroin addiction in Mumbai. AFP PHOTO/ MANAN VATSYAYANA
The Literary Lockdown, which starts at 4 pm GST (8.30 PM IST), is akin to an afternoon of unwinding. “Jenny is a lively and down-to-earth person who had her dog Ned at her feet while she was talking to me. That’s the relaxed nature of these Live chats, and exactly the kind of thing I want to encourage!”
Split-seconds after the chat with Jenny ended, Monisha’s own kids came charging through the door to hug her. “Nothing like some baby cuddles in these rubbish times…” she says.
The lives will be available as IGTV videos on @monisha_rajesh
