62 Quotes by Kiran Desai

Writing, for me, means humility. It’s a process that involves fear and doubt, especially if you’re writing honestly.

The publishing world is very timid. Readers are much braver.

If you write a lovely story about India, you’re criticized for selling an exotic version of India. And if you write critically about India, you’re seen as portraying it in a negative light – it also seems to be a popular way to present India, sort of mangoes and beggars.

I’m always in the kitchen, cooking and experimenting – I love it. And every now and then I think, ‘I should write a cookbook’ or, ‘I should write for food magazines.’ And then I get drawn back to writing fiction again.

I don’t think you can write according to a set of rules and laws; every writer is so different.

We think of immigration as a Western issue but, of course, it isn’t.

Slowly, painstakingly, like ants, men would make their paths and civilization and their wars once again, only to have it wash away again.

Why couldn’t she be part of that family? rent a room in someone else’s life.

I do think that the modern India does belong to writers who are living in India.