Manjula Padmanabhan (b. 1953) is a writer, cartoonist and playwright. In 1997, her play, Harvest, won first prize at the Onassis Prize for Theatre in Greece. She is the author of critically acclaimed books such as Getting There, Escape and The Island for Lost Girls, and her most recent works are Blood and Laughter, Laughter and Blood and Getting There (re-edited). She divides her time between Newport and New Delhi.
Tell us about your writing schedule.
I write as well as draw, but the length of time I spend physically writing or drawing is only a fraction of my whole day. I wake up around 8:00 am and sleep around 2:00 am the next night, with a brief nap in the afternoon. I am NOT a workaholic. In the course of that whole day I might only work a couple of hours, with plenty of distractions. It is only towards the end of a project that I might spend hours continuously, finishing it.
Does writing energise or exhaust you?
I don’t think in those terms. There is no real gap between producing a drawing or article and planning the next one. It is a continuous process. I find social interactions exhausting. I rarely go out. I am very happy to be alone, even though I am not really single.
Writing advice you’d like to give your younger self?
I have been working as an artist and writer since I was 17, so there has been no real break in continuity. I don’t have another life that I escape into then return to my desk. This is what I have done all my life. So… no, there is no advice I’d give her. She gives ME advice (“work harder! Stop wasting time!”).
Your favourite books?
Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll; The Wind in The Willows by Kenneth Grahame; Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake; The Magus by John Fowles; The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. And many more!
Literary success vs number of copies sold?
Both, please.
Favourite spot/s in Delhi you write at?
I only ever write or draw at home, wherever home is. I usually work in whatever’s “my” room. I travel back and forth between the US and India, and sometimes stay with other people. My primary requirement is to be alone in a comfortable, quiet room. If I am writing, I like sitting up in bed. Drawing is more complicated. I am usually at a desk, but sometimes standing in front of a canvas.