By Vrushal Pendharkar

Kanishk Tharoor has been described by Amitav Ghosh as not only a gifted but an extraordinarily talented writer. His collection of short stories, Swimmer Among the Stars, was praised widely. He was an invited speaker at the recently concluded Bangalore Literary Festival. Painfully coherent and extremely passionate about his craft, on the sidelines of the festival, Kanishk took time off to discuss growing up in a famous literary household, the importance of reading and his love for football.

What was it like growing up in a literary household?

Because it is the only household I grew up in, it is sometimes difficult to describe. But certainly, in terms of my writing, my mother is a professor of literature and my father is a writer, so we had lots of books all over the house. In fact, I would suspect my parents would say books were their prized belongings. We didn’t particularly have expensive or fancy things in our house but tonnes of books. As a result, both my brother and I grew up with a sense that a worth life was one brimming with books and a sense that life should have books at its heart no matter what one does. We saw our parents discussing the books they were reading, wrestling with the books they were reading, so that sort of a thing leaves an impact. These sort of things has definitely shaped my imagination. It was my fortune to be raised by people who cared about writing and only supported my desire to do that. Read more

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