Bibliofile
The rush for Rushdie not lessened by his speaking fee of $45,000 while the Alchemy of Desire endears itself to the French...
Mussoorie, Anyone?
Other writers seem to be as fatigued by litfests as Rushdie. Over 60 writers—A, B and even C list ones—received invitations but none could make it. Is it the prospect of Kanpur or the thought of facing a roomful of the nation's brightest that scared them off? The Woodstock School which is organising a Mussoorie international litfest next fortnight, hasn't had much luck either. Except for the resident Mussoorie writers like Ruskin Bond, Nayantara Sahgal, Bill Aitken and Steve Alter, the only writer of note they've attracted is Sudhir Kakar.
Alchemy Of Boredom
Tarun Tejpal's Alchemy of Desire has endeared itself to French readers, but not the author. At the Paris book fair, French journalists got a taste of our writerly manners, when he yawned and SMSed his way through a news conference.