Author-SIMRITA DHIR
Hello everyone! Thanks a lot for tuning in. So today begins my author spotlight series and I’m super excited about it. I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I enjoyed creating them for you!
So to start with, I decided to feature the author I really admire and adore!
If you’ve read my previous blog post about the book –The Rainbow Acres then you probably know how much I loved it,you can check out my review for it HERE
So here are my questions that I had presented to her and her responses will truly warm your heart!❤
Please elaborate on your writing journey. What made you a writer and what inspired you to become an author?
I have been writing since I was a child, loosely recording my thoughts and experiences in journals. I began contributing to leading national newspapers – The Times of India, Indian Express and The Tribune while in high school. I write everyday about things that interest, inspire and nudge me into thinking. Writing is my ikigai, meditation and joy all packed in one. I have also written a doctoral dissertation.
My debut novel The Rainbow Acres is a historical novel about displacement, migration, love, friendship, fortitude and the quest for land and identity. As an immigrant who is settled in California, I was naturally curious to explore the history of the earliest people who migrated to California from my homeland Punjab. I was inspired to write The Rainbow Acres after learning about the brave stories of the pioneer Punjabi farmers of California who started their journeys from Punjab in the early 1900s, shortly after the California Gold Rush. Undertaking perilous journeys, they sailed across two oceans to reach California with the hope of claiming and farming their piece of the golden land. I thought their stories of strife, struggle and fantastic success had all the twists and turns of a fictional story. Many of these pioneer Punjabi farmers of California married Mexican women, who had migrated to California after having been uprooted by the Mexican revolution. As a result, a fascinating Punjabi-Mexican community had sprung up in California. It was a beautiful coming together of two cultures – a truly secular, bi-ethnic set-up that came to exemplify a new and eclectic California. Even though sociological research had been done about California’s remarkable Punjabi-Mexican community of the early 1900s, there had been no attempt at fictionalizing this episode from Californian history. Finding the Punjabi-Mexican community absolutely riveting, I took it upon myself to render the beautiful story of the melding of two cultures into fiction.
Do you consider being a writer and an author as 2 separate personalities of yours? If yes, then what are the characteristics of each and significance of each in your life?
I think of myself foremost as being a storyteller. I feel a deep commitment to stories and cannot imagine a world without them. By connecting the past and the present to the future, stories have the ability to transform lives. Enduring stories are relevant to all times and climes, inculcating an appreciation for diverse cultures thereby fostering friendship and goodwill. Through history, cultures across the world have striven to tell and preserve their stories. Stories of families and clans, of voyages and migrations, of love and loss, of invasions and conquests have informed our consciousness from time immemorial. I feel stories are the keys to survival. The most powerful stories draw generation after generation of readers to the wisdom and beauty of their timeless messages. As a committed storyteller, I aspire to tell stories that will awaken readers to the universality of anguish and joy.
What are the challenges you faced while writing your book and publishing it? What kept you motivated throughout your writing journey?
Writing is a very lonely and intense process. It is also time consuming and requires multiple revisions. Having said that, I did not perceive these aspects as difficulties. The Rainbow Acres is a labor of love spun together after much research, multiple revisions and many years. Should I decide to write another story, I am prepared to do all of that over again and gladly so. No one tells anyone to write a story. When a story comes to a person, he/she is driven by a formidable impulse to see the story through completion regardless of all and any obstacles.
Which author do you look up to?
I enjoy reading the works of diverse authors spanning across centuries. Among contemporary authors, my favorites are Haruki Murakami and David Malouf. When talking to students and friends, I like to refer to these two authors as future Noble laureates.
If your book was adapted into a movie, what would your dream cast look like?
That is an interesting question. I guess it would be nice to see either Abhay Deol or Shahid Kapoor as Kishan Singh. They are both fine actors and like Kishan Singh, insightful and intelligent as well. Like Kishan Singh, both have dimpled smiles too. And I think Sonam Kapoor will make an unforgettable Roop because like Roop, she is tall, effervescent and beautiful. American actress Emma Roberts would be perfect as Amy McCarthy.
If you were to cosplay one of your characters, who would it be and why?
Most certainly Amy McCarthy! In the early 1920s, it was rare for a girl from the California farmland to venture out into the professions. And the library that Amy comes to work at – Elk Grove Public Library was the first “free library” for the public to be set up in California. She is truly path breaking and inspiring, someone who bravely fights prejudices and debunks racism. Her growing friendship with Kishan Singh in a time of severe racism testifies to her spirit of both defiance and progression and also to her sense of righteousness. It would be so fun to dress up like her – in a “life infusing” green dress and go about helping patrons at the Elk Grove Public Library for a day.
If you could have a day out with one of your characters, who would it be with and how will you plan for it?
Oh, I would so love to roam the California farmland with Kishan Singh, swim with him across the sparkling American River on a “bright orange afternoon” and ride with him on a tractor “through the emerald fields to the rims of the red California sunset”.
What are your favorite quotes/lines/ poems from your book (s)
All lines are integral to the success of The Rainbow Acres, but if had to share lines that are most representative of the story, they would be from the last section.
“The human journey is not the travel of the sun or the moon. It cannot be predicted. You can’t fight your story, it always wins.”
Share a poem or a song that would aptly describe your book.
Haruki Murakami’s lines from Kafka on the Shore form the epigraph to The Rainbow Acres. I feel they aptly convey the message of my novel.“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in.”
I hope you enjoyed learning about her journey!
Her debut novel The Rainbow Acres has made it to Amazon Memorable Books of 2018 list as well as to Amazon The Very Best Fiction from Winter 2018 list. It’s a book I truly recommend!
That’s all for today! I hope you had a good time surfing through these responses ! Do lemme know your thoughts over it in the comment section below & plz follow my blog for more such updates.
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Thank you,take care 💕
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