Tabish Khair
Tabish Khair is an award-winning poet, journalist, critic, educator and novelist. A citizen of India, he lives in Denmark and teaches literature at Aarhus University.
His latest novel is The Thing about Thugs.
From the author's Q & A with Visi Tilak:
At what age did you start writing? When did you discover you wanted to become a writer?Visit Tabish Khair's website.
TK: Pretty early, according to my parents. They collected poems I had written from the age of seven or eight. I think I managed to steal and burn most of them later on. What a relief! My parents did not want me to be a writer -- they were afraid I would starve -- but they were quite proud of my precocious scribblings.
Do you consider yourself a poet or a fiction writer? Which one is your passion?
TK: I am a writer. I think the theme, idea, effect etc indicate the genre. One listens to the book in formation and writes accordingly. It sounds mystical, but it is a hard, solid fact of writing: you need to listen to the book you are writing.
How do you switch hats from poetry to prose writing? That must be tough to do.
TK: Only to the extent that it is always hard to get into poetry in a world that ...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: The Thing about Thugs.
--Marshal Zeringue
