They are not characters out of the Ramayana or the Mahabharatha.They are young,flesh and blood puppies.They have entered the "lit-frat" with a bang.And they are getting bucks for the bang.They are now part of the "lit-glitt".And what a red carpet welcome they have got.They got kissed, have got wild and have gotten in.How Opal Mehta got kissed,got wild and got in is the tentative title of Kavya's book and Red Carpet of Lavanya's.
Kavya Vishwanathan is a Harvard fresher and has signed a two-book deal for 500,000 dollars with Little,Brown and Co.She came second in a nation wide poetry contest judged by Carl Dennis,winner of the 2002 Pulitzer prize for poetry.She is keen to become a banker and decided to join Harvard.And little did she know what destiny had in store for her.And with her books set to release in early 2006,the world may lose a banker and gain an author.
And who is Lavanya Sankaran? Also a banker and niece of a wellknown Tamil writer,she had nine publishers vying with each other in a three-day auction for publishing rights.Ultimately,Dial Press in USA and Headline in UK emerged the winners.And Lavanya got a phenomenal six figure sum in US dollars.Eight short stories crammed into the Red Carpet are all about characters with whom Lavanya had interacted while she grew up in Bangalore.Intergenerational clash,societal contradictions and the new assertive youth are the pivotal themes around which her stories are based.Selected by Barnes and Noble as part of their Discover New Author Programme,the Red Carpet is already 5th in the best-seller list in India. Lavanya who has achieved instant fame is very very busy.She has no time to count the zeroes in her cheque.Indeed,a splashing debut in India and abroad.She is already looking at another novel.
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4 comments:
maya and i were chatting about lavanya. i believe nirmala periamma liked the first story but hated the second short story in red carpet because of the foul language :)
surprisingly,the number 5 best seller is just not available in mumbai.either at oxfords or at the cs international domestic airport.i have not been able to lay my hands on the red carpet yet.i am in chennai today and hopefully i will be able to buy the book.
i bought the book in chennai.read the 1st chapter on board the flight and the second on bed at home.i like her style of writing.she is a master of similies and metaphors.i wish lavanya had economised on the repeated use of the four letter word.sometimes,i think it has become fashionable to use it.
I was googling for this book and came across your blog. I loved the last story: Apple Pie One by Two, wish it had been the title of the Book. PS: There are two book stores at the Mumbai airport, I picked it up at the one closer to the security gate - forget the name of this shop.
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