By IANS,
Kolkata : Writers should read as much as they can and make reading and writing attractive, British author of Sri Lankan origin Romesh Gunesekara says.
“There are a lot of good writers in India. The best thing for writers is to read as much as they can and to make the whole business of reading and writing attractive, talk about it, make a buzz about it. But the first thing they should do is read,” Gunesekara told IANS here.
Gunesekara’s first book ‘Monkfish Moon’, a collection of short stories reflecting the ethnic and political tensions that have threatened Sri Lanka since independence in 1948, was published in 1992.
His 1994 novel ‘Reef’ was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
According to Gunesekara, there are a lot of commonalities between India and Sri Lanka.
“We have a common heritage. There are a lot of commonalities in culture, food, language,” Gunesekara said on the sidelines of an interactive session by Oxford Bookstore, Kolkata and UEA Creative Writing Programme 2013.