CHENNAI: Rich prose and feminine spirit engulfed the room, as author Sharanya Manivannan read passages from her book The High Priestess Never Marries recently at the book’s launch. The poet-turned-author was in conversation with professor K Srilata, wherein they discussed about the book. “It explores lives of heteroromantic women, their heartbreak, love for freedom, etc.,” said Sharanya about her new book.
“The idea for the book came from a question: can a heteroromantic woman have both partnered love and freedom? Living in a patriarchal city like Chennai, the question is legitimate,” she added. The undercurrent of her book is love and heartbreak, mostly based in Chennai and Kotagiri. She shared that she was inspired to write the stories through her own experiences. “My book promotes feminism and a woman’s freedom. And I don’t mean the veiled bondage that many mistake for freedom,” she said.
The author also talked about her time in Chennai. “Even after living here for seven years, I still feel like an outsider, an observer. I guess that comes with being an author.” Her story about oppari singers was appreciated for the depth with which the characters and their lives were portrayed. “I have spent a quality time with them (oppari singers) for reasons apart from research and have observed their lives closely. Maybe that’s why I was able to write it the way I have,” said Sharanya.
Sharanya said that she was influenced by American author Sandra Cicero. “She writes in Spanglish and that made me realise that the language in a book need not always be in English. Hence I have used certain Tamil dialects with no translation,” she pointed out. The book which has short stories has a subtitle ‘stories of love and consequence’. Why the singularity in the subtitle? “The book’s prologue is a piece of dialogue between a woman and her friend. They discuss how love is eternal, which necessarily means that one lives, dies and is reborn many times in a single life. Every deep love is thus singular” she explained.
(The book is available through Amazon.in)