Born at New Delhi, Tanushree worked in the corporate sector for eight long years before she quit the rat race to start writing. A well know travel writer and novelist, she is passionate about travelling and writing. Climate change and environment are of special interest to her.
She has written ten novels. Among her books are Nurjahan’s Daughter, Boots Belts Berets, On the Double, Escape from Harem, A Closetful of Skeletons, Before you Breathe, No Margin for Error and The Teenage Diary of Rani Laxmibai.
Decoding the Feronia Files, written by her, is the first Indian Cli Fi thriller. Boots Belts Berets and On the Double have also been acquired for adaptation into web series.
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Building a mystery: Decoding crime fiction
On 28th Nov 12.00 p.m. - 12.40 p.m.
Tanushree Poddar is a well-known Indian writer who has worked on different genres in her books. With one book related to the NDA and another one to the IMA she then took up a passion for crime fiction. She has already written two books on crime fiction and is working on the third one. From childhood, Tanushree being the eldest of siblings was drawn to storytelling to entertain her brothers and sisters. She carried this passion inside her which was thwarted when she was compelled by her father to study science as a subject.
The passion for story telling transformed into several well written books later when after marriage to an army officer she had to move from one remote place to the other. These different interesting locations were part of the inspiration for her books. While being interviewed by Sangeeta Verma she disclosed that she took up writing because she had nothing else to do. At the same time an inquisitive mind ensured that her crime fiction books were actually very intriguing and enjoyable.
Panel on "Crime Fiction - an instigator or Inhibitor"
On 29th Nov 1.00 p.m. - 1.40 p.m.
Abeer Kapoor: Crime Fictions are a gift of the Colonial period. British has actually a great font for detective crime fiction which gave rise to Sherlock Holmes so if you are in police you should have to read Sherlock Holmes. Detective fiction began in the Lahore area at the time of British. Bengal had its own version of Sherlock i.e. Byomkesh Bakshi. Crime fiction is rooted in reality. Detective stories have long histories in India. It has a long regional response too. For me crime fiction means history of place and time, history of people and region. England has done an amazing job in terms of Crime fiction. There is always a relation between a detective fiction, crime fiction and setting. The detective searches for clues, often makes mistakes, may identify the wrong party, but eventually solves the crime. The goal is for the audience to piece the clues together while the detective works.
Anuj Tiwari: My stories are inspired from true stories. The crime we face on a daily basis is motivation for me to write. Time has changed and story brands have been established. I would still like to read old crime fiction sold on railway stations because it still has a charm. All new stories, if you look, have their root in those old stories. Time may have changed but the core of the story will remain the same. We cannot count the importance of stories by the number of pages and its price but through the essence of stories. Crime fiction is bestselling genres and the most borrowed from public libraries. One of the reasons I believe crime fiction is popular is because people are fascinated by human behavior.
Tanushree Poddar: Crime fiction is actually challenging the readers to pick intelligence against the author. Maximum number of Twists makes the book more interesting. I must say that contemporary life is reflected in crime fiction. Crime fiction also tries to bring social issues at some point in the story. One of my books has highlighted many issues that exist in Bollywood. The atmosphere in which we write mysteries is very important. In one of my stories I created a fictional city of which idea I got while being on travel. Taking a story forward is a challenge.