The Word

SHARANYA MANIVANNAN
Poet

A book that means a lot to you? And why?
Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, who’s of Joseph Campbell stature to me. I keep returning to her work. It's for anyone — not just women — looking for spiritual evolution.

Your favourite genre?
Lately, creative non-fiction. The difference between an ordinary life and an extraordinary one is sometimes simply in its telling.

Your favourite character? And why?
Karna from the Mahabharata, whom I reimagine as female in my writing. Hearing this story as a child was shattering; it taught me the power and pathos of storytelling. I identify profoundly with the family betrayals, and with his loyalty.

How many books do you own?
I'd estimate 600.

An underrated book?
Funny Boy. Shyam Selvadurai is best known for Cinnamon Gardens, but this one made me cry and cry.

An overrated book?
Interpreter of Maladies. I am drawn to the vivid and the visceral. I don't care for work that glazes the surface without engagement.

The book you bought last?
A Mighty Heart by Marianne Pearl.

Last book read?
A very disappointing manga, Hell Girl. The TV version was so creepy!

A book you wish you’d written?
I’m spellbound by works only in my experience as a reader. If I wrote them, other things would interfere with that pleasure. That being said, I’d be willing to accept that God is a man, but only if He writes like Michael Ondaatje.

JAI ARJUN SINGH