Still Provocative, Still Readable

Excerpts from an interview with Arundhati Roy in the Deccan Herald:

"When I wrote 'The God of Small Things', I wasn't sure if it would work with anyone. It was five or six years of working, completely alone. I won the Booker and became darling of the middle-class. I won the national pride. Then, I wrote non-fiction. I wrote about nuclear tests and realised that speaking out is as political as keeping quiet. People who once were supportive and liked me, started looking at me as an enemy."

"I see writing as a weapon to fight the battle of 'Power vs Powerless'. I want to write another book. I am seeking space where I can shut doors and write."

"I remember after winning the Booker, I was interviewed by English media. They said, it's a tribute to Empire since your book is in English. I resented that, it was like attributing a child to a rapist father."

"It is not always about acceptance. People whom you are supporting through your writing are regressive at times. A writer has to negotiate that and emphasise on simplifying the complex and not opposite. Sometimes you have to fight for people who have no space for you in their imagination. Still you have to put the papers on the table."