Author Dr. Aswin Shaji recently won Sri Aurobindo Indian Literary Award, 2022 for her excellent contribution to Literature. Cherry book awards believes he is a contemporary star of Indian Literature. We caught up with her for an exclusive interview. Here it is:
What inspires you to keep inspiring people through your literary creations?
It is the feeling of Hope and Empathy. I hope that we can be better and make the world a better place. I hope we can empathize with people and try to solve all problems by working together and not working against each other.
And finally, I hope we can always work to improve ourselves and be better than our own previous self.
Share about your published books.
I have published 20+ anthologies as a Co Author and 1 poetry book ‘The Nirvanic Heart’ as a Solo Author.
What are the qualities of a good author?
Being able to emote and understand others.
Being genuinely happy to write and being interested in your work.
Being disciplined.
Share some of your major literary achievements.
• 21st Century Emily Dickinson award
• 1st Prize script writing competition for World suicide prevention day Amrita Hospital 2021
• Writer’s Desire award
• Mahadevi Verma Sahitya Shiromani award 2022
• Achiever of the year 2022- Best Poet and Author of the year
• Spectrum InqQuill Holders award
• Dramatism Award- Best Poet and Author of the year
• Sylvia Plath Memorial Literary Prize
• NAPOWRIMO’ x EBA 2022 National Competition TOP 10
• Indian Noble Award 2022
• Ukiyoto Suenos Literary Festival- Best Poet of the Year for ‘The Nirvanic Heart’
• NE8x Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Award
• World Record for the first anthology book published about the importance of farmers and agriculture
What your advice to young and budding writers who want to publish their debut books?
Try to make your manuscript as polished as possible and have people in your family and friends circle have a read on it so that they can give you constructive feedback on the book. This will help you in improving the book and enhancing it.
Secondly, find a good publication house that will work with you nonstop to release a great product. It will be up to you to decide whether you want it to be self-published or under a publication house.
What kind of books do you love to read? Name any three books apart from your books that you would recommend to all.
I love to read fiction and xianxia genre of books. Aside from the self-help types of books, I usually love to read the above two categories as it helps to move away and escape from the nitty-gritty details and chaos of daily life.
3 books I would suggest a read are – Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, 3 mistakes of my life by Chetan Bhagat, Coiling Dragon by IET.
As an author, is it important to write in simple or high-end language, and why?
It is more of a personal preference as there will always be an audience for every niche who will be attracted to a particular writing style. So as an author, even though it is advisable to explore more writing styles, I would suggest that you don’t force it upon your works until you are comfortable with it yourself.
In your opinion, how can the decreasing readership trend, especially in India, can be stopped from further decline?
By encouraging children from a young age to read more and by introducing reading as a fun activity to young children. We should make it so that they see it as a treat rather than a chore which will be topped off on top of their already heavy load of homework given by their teachers.
