Avni Doshi on Dubai, the Booker Prize and advice for budding writers

The American novelist, who lives in the city, attended the Emirates Airlines Festival of Literature this week

It hasn't been an easy journey for Avni Doshi, but the Booker Prize-shortlisted author, who lives in Dubai, is finally reaping the rewards of her hard work.

"I had to face a lot of rejection and a lot of dejection through the process. And so, when my book was published, forget about Booker, when my book was published and the first time I saw it in person, and held it, that for me was an unbelievable moment. I really told myself, nothing will ever top this," she tells The National.

The moment Doshi's debut novel, Burnt Sugar, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize did top it, though. And now it's set to be adapted into a movie directed by Indian-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta.

We catch up with the American novelist at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature to talk about Dubai and new fiction by female writers.

What does Emirates Airline Festival of Literature mean to you as a writer and to Dubai?

"The Emirates Literature Festival is the only thing of this kind in Dubai that brings together writers who are both kind of locally grown and international. What they've been doing with the festival, especially recently, is just so exciting to see, especially these various initiatives, including this new fellowship for budding writers.

"This festival is not just a festival, it's really growing into something that is bridging gap for authors who are more grassroot, with concerns that are much more international. The festival is really important for creating conversation and dialogue. But at the same time, I think they have such brilliant ideas and brilliant people working for the festival, and they're really going to grow this into a space where it's going to mean something not just to people in Dubai, but to people all over the world."

Given the sometimes transient nature of Dubai, can the city be a backdrop for serious literary writing?

"My perspective of Dubai is quite different, actually. You mentioned that Dubai is quite a transient city. I see how that's true in one way. I am, for example, married to someone who's been in this city for 42 years, and whose entire family is here. And we have many friends who have been here their entire lives, who have raised their children here, whose parents live here, and who have kind of an intergenerational connection to this city.

"So, for me, I've experienced, I think, the other side, where it's not transient, where it's actually quite permanent. I think there are new initiatives like the golden visa and other programmes, especially that are giving the opportunity to artists and creative people to stay for an extended period of time and use Dubai as a base for their creative work.

"I've lived in New York, I've lived in London, I lived in Mumbai for eight years, which is actually where the seed of my novel came from. The place where I wrote my novel was Dubai. So, the draft that you see that has been published, that has been nominated for and has won awards was, all written in Dubai.

"I've done a lot of serious writing here."

There is a lot of amazing new fiction by women winning big awards. What does it tell us about the way the world is moving?

"Oh, gosh, I think it tells us that we're moving towards what we should have had all along. And we didn't, you know.

"I mean, the fact that we're asking this question just shows that we are living in a time when there are still these questions of inequality that are circulating. I primarily read [books by] women, I almost only read women, I don't think I'm necessarily conscious of the fact that I'm reading women, but I think if I look at my bookshelf, a lot of the authors that I'm interested in are women."

How do you look at fiction coming out of the subcontinent, particularly India and Pakistan?

"So many beautiful books have come out of the subcontinent. I mean, I'm just trying to think of some of my recent favourites.

"Shubhangi Swarup is a writer I admire so much. Janice Pariat is another writer who I just love. One of my kind of new favourite writers, I'm just addicted to her new book, is Rijula Das. And she's really fabulous. She just won the Tata Literature Live First Book Award. And her book is coming out in the US pretty soon. I just think there are these writers coming out of the subcontinent who are really pushing boundaries."

How did it feel to be shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize?

"It's sort of a dream come true. It's something you don't even dare. For me I didn't even dare to imagine because I haven't come from a literary background, I don't have powerful mentors or teachers, I didn't come out of a big master's of fine arts programme. I really had to fight and work hard. And I had to face a lot of rejection and a lot of dejection through the process.

"Getting nominated for this prize was incredibly great and gratifying. It's amazing. I don't have to tell you what it does for someone's career. It gives your book incredible coverage, publicity that I don't think any other prize does. But at the same time, as exciting as all of that is, when you're sitting down to write the next book, which I'm doing now, I'm writing book two, none of that matters. Because it's you again, struggling with the page, self-doubt is the same.

"Where do you begin? Who are your characters? What is the story? What does the story want to be? What is it going to emerge into?"

Do you have some advice for budding writers?

"The biggest thing when you're a writer is to be curious. Be curious about everything. You don't know how something random and obscure and what may seem boring or pointless, you never know how that may inform your writing. You don't know how that may bubble up. You don't know how that may transform into something else."

This interview was edited for clarity and brevity