I've had some of the best conversations in India: Paul Beatty

Author Paul Beatty at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meetorganised by TatasIn the last few months life has changed dramatically for American author Paul Beatty From being turned down nearly 18 times by publishers for a book that he was confident would challenge existing ideas and notions about race to winning the Man Booker for the very same that the world will now remember as The Sellout Beatty seems to have had the last laugh For Beatty who became the first American to receive the pound50000 Man Booker prize the award only validated that The Sellout deserved not to be ignoredThe author who was in India for a good part of January hopping between cultural festivals spoke to midday during the last leg of the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet which ended last week Excerpts from the interviewIts been quite a long trip for you here in India with Jaipur Literary Festival and now the Kolkata Literary Meet Whats been the best takeaway from your experience hereThats a good question and a rather hard one I have had all these great conversations here And one of the things I have been saying for a long time here is that some of the best questions I have got about the book The Sellout have been from the Indian press I didnt have to start from square one with the book and thats really nice The other thing thats been completely refreshing is that all the young people I meet at these festivals are so enthusiastic about literature I dont get that in the States in the level that I get here and thats been fantasticIn an interview youve mentioned how you dislike the whole actprocess of writing Does it mean that you prefer the process of storytelling insteadI think they go hand in hand I dont make a great distinction between writing and storytellingFrom what weve read of you you seem to be the one who likes to write at your own pace Would you describe yourself as instinctive or impulsiveI am neither of those really I am definitely not instinctive it would have been easier if I were And I am not that impulsive either I am a thinker I like pondering and meditating It takes a long time for me to write Theres a lot of practise to it Its not like you press a button and it all comes out Its not a reflexYouve admitted once to not having read a single Man Booker winning title Did you ever see The Sellout getting thereI have read some of the shortlisted books but none of the winning titles I have read thousands and thousands of books but I dont read a lot of contemporary fiction and thats probably why I havent read them and its that simple Even when I was writing The Sellout I was hoping to write a book that would be hard for people to ignore And I am absolutely happy that it hasnt I felt that I had written a really good and challenging book But I didnt have the Man Booker in mind In fact I didnt think about it even for a secondHow close is your fiction to your own realityNot close at all I think my memory is a big part of the way I write Its my memory that allows me to create that narrative and what I imagine God forbid if my life were like my fiction it would be toughAny Indian authors whose works you follow and whyThere is this IndianAmerican writer that no one really knows her name is Jade Sharma She wrote a good novel called Problems and I am a big fan Now that I was in India I have been asking people to send me their works I am hoping to read more There is Kiran Desai She is the one author that I am really looking forward to readHow have things changed for you ever since you won the BookerLaughs Just that I get asked that question too often Thats the only change