Soliloquy

Most stories begin in childhood. They appear in our first drawings, our childish patter and crucially the make-believe world we weave when playing with dolls, paper airplanes or invisible friends. These are the beginnings of a creative project. As we grow up, life steers us in other practical directions until those first imaginative steps are erased from our consciousness. But if we take time to connect with our creative soul, that world can be recreated with simple tools: paper and pen. Writers are usually avid readers and it’s a great place to start. Books feed our imagination, teach us our craft, inspire and uplift. But some books take us further when the characters leap out of the pages and populate our world, hovering over us like invisible, benign spirits like Shakespeare’s Hamlet or Moliere’s Alceste. Some like Meursault in The Outsider can have a lasting effect on a young reader’s mind. When I first read the novel at the age of fourteen, the emotional detachment of this ch...

Join Anjana Chowdhury in Grenoble, France, on May 16 from 7-8 pm for the book launch of her debut novel Under the Pipal Tree. Set in India this story is told from the viewpoints of two women who represent the polar ends of society – the affluent and the impoverished. Their stories merge and boundaries are redrawn between a mother, daughter and her childhood nanny. There will be a short reading followed by book signing. Copies of the books will be available on the night at 12 euros each. Cash payments only please. Venue: Salle Polyvalente ‘Les Vignes’, 3 Avenue Marechal Randon. Tram B stop : La Tronche Hopital. Drinks and nibbles provided. RSVP: Anjana.chowdhury@hotmail.com

Fabulous book launch on 28 March for Under the Pipal Tree at West Greenwich library courtesy of Cinnamon Press. The room buzzed with enthusiasm and I could not have asked for a better audience.  Under the Pipal Tree is available from Amazon on Kindle and paperback. It can also be ordered directly from Cinnamon Press. The book has many themes - mother and daughter relationships, marriage, religion, mental health and social inequalities. It raises many questions about how we understand each other, about truth and its implications, about possibilities. How in one moment your life could change forever.  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XJ2HSBH/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492621339&sr=1-1&keywords=under+the+pipal+tree

Book launch of Geranium Woman in Paris Hazel Manuel is a UK born novelist whose writing follows a career in education, first as a teacher/lecturer and after as a business leader within the education sector. Hazel now lives and writes full-time in Paris. The Geranium Woman, published by Cinnamon Press is Hazel’s latest novel and is a rare and timely glimpse into boardroom politics as seen through female eyes. Issues of gender, personal autonomy, and corporate responsibility are all explored with a deft yet nuanced touch in this ambitious and thought-provoking tale. The Geranium Woman has been launched in India and Paris and will be launched in the UK at Zestfestin June. Details may be found here: http://thezestlife.co.uk/zest-fest-top-line/ What inspired you to write The Geranium Woman? The Geranium Woman has been an absorbing and exciting project for me. Before moving to Paris, I worked in the corporate world, sitting on Boards of Directors for many year...

I am hardly ever lost for words but a blank screen is another thing. Face it as you would a friend. Just chat for a while. Scribble. And soon thoughts will flow.  Having finished the first draft of my second novel, a psychological thriller, No Missed Call I was for a while stuck in a literary limbo. What next? Should I send it to a professional for feedback or plunge right in with editing? The standard advice is to put the manuscript away for a few months and then attempt editing thereby giving your brain a chance to gain objective distance. But as I needed to polish the opening pages for a course application I decided to jump right into the editing phase. So far so good. While the story is fresh in my mind, I find myself catching errors, inconsistencies, gaps in the plot and sentences that are clunky and need rewriting. My pet hate used to be editing, enjoying the first fling with the characters and abandoning them in their barely clad personalities. But now, I am act...

Watching the Universe I watch the universe like a hawk Monitor every country, every move Stop a terrorist here A crazed gunman there And when the world is not looking my way I protect my young. Build my nest with thicker twigs So they won’t fall Not just yet Until they learn to fly on their own, Metaphorically speaking, for they have long flown the nest I can focus on the rest. Like a vigipirate I watch over this world Because if I shift my attention just a little bit The world wobbles. You may laugh at my arrogance And think I’m a little mad But it’s true. I watch the birds fly Their raucous cry Mingle with rustling leaves that whisper I feel the chill in the air Danger. I have dropped the ball And must start all over Because yesterday I forgot to light The incense before my shrine Where dead elders, framed in silver, sit side by side Spirits locked forever behind glass And today three men empty cartridges In a mindl...

Having just won the 2015 Annual Debut Novel Competition with Cinnamon Press and bagging a promise of publication in early 2017, I feel elated but mostly relieved at having nearly reached my final stop. 'Under The Pipal Tree' is going to be out there! A scary thought - I feel as if I'm suspended at the top of a ride looking down - my heart, simultaneously thumping with excitement and plummeting with fear. http://www.cinnamonpress.com/index.php/blog/entry/2015-annual-debut-novel-novella-prize/ It has been an incerdibly long journey but I wouldn't have done it any other way. No short cuts for me. I needed to learn the hard way. Years of practising my craft, on my own, trying to find my voice has not been a waste of time. For some, ten to fiteen years seem too long to achieve their dreams. Imagine this as your Mona Lisa, would you print and sell your first tentative sketches or wait for that magic moment when despite bucket loads of self-doubt you think 'that's...