Countdown

The  countdown to the festival has begun. We have such a great line up of authors. A few stories about these authors, one by one...

I met Shashi Warrier when I ran a bookstore in Bangalore. Many many moons ago. Shashi used to come to the bookstore all the time and decided to do his writing at the bookstore-cafe. He mentioned, over coffee, that he had written his first novel  and was looking to get it published. Coincidentally, I was meeting David Davidar ( the head of Penguin India at that time) for a drink and asked Shashi to meet us there, to pitch his book. And there begun our respective journeys. His as a Penguin author and mine as a Literary Agent. The rest, as they say, is history.
Shashi is perhaps the first Indian Thriller writer whose work I read. He is the writer equivalent of a method actor. He spends a great deal of time on research, so evident in his masterful writing. We recommend Hangman's Journal and The Homecoming.