In Conversation with Award-winning Novelist & Poet Pervin Saket
Both of these books are a part of Adidev's Learning to Be series, a set of board books based on inspiring South Asian personalities. Written in simple verse format, these books are great to introduce young readers to big values and get them acquainted with the stalwarts who have shaped history by letting them imagine and reflect upon human experiences. Pervin, could you tell us about your choice of simple verses as a format as opposed to regular text based narrative for these books?
Pervin Saket
@PervinSaket · 2:20
For instance, as part of this series, we've got physicists, we've got botanists, we've got doctors, and of course, there's the fabulous Mario, Miranda and Phalke, and they're doing difficult, complex work. So to be able to convey these large ideas in a format which is enjoyable for children, I found that verse does that better than prose. There is an ease that comes with rhyme, which is perhaps why most of us start with rhyming poems rather than free verse
Thank you. Pervin the books focus on the life and works of two great personalities mario Miranda and dada sahib Phalke. While there's enough research and material out there about their lives, how did you manage to focus on the key life events of both these talwads in order to present your young readers a very organic, uncomplicated view of their lives? Inspiring journey
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Pervin Saket
@PervinSaket · 1:26
You. Hi, Ramya. So yes, about selecting life events, actually, like you said, there is a lot of material available. But my emphasis was not so much about recounting their life events or including anecdotes as much as it was something of a character sketch. Are trying to get an understanding of the person's mind and what they might have gone through emotionally as part of their journeys
Thank you for that. So adults sometimes tend to write children's stories in one of the two ways. They either try to write the kind of books they loved as children, or they try to write a story based on their idea of what a child is like. So I'd really love to know what your approach is like. How do you manage to capture a child's worldview in a way that will engage and resonate with a young reader?
Pervin Saket
@PervinSaket · 2:03
And I didn't quite realize it at that time, but today I know that that became a gap in my life. It became a gap in not just my reading, but also in my orientation. You will notice that when young children move towards writing, somehow their characters always have names of foreign children. Their settings are abroad, even if they have never been to those specific places. And that is simply because they are reproducing the kind of literature that they grew up with
I think I'll leave you with one final question. Pervin, you have written for many different age levels. So do you find it challenging to shift from, say, writing for a younger audience to an adult one, or is the switch a very natural sort of process? As a writer myself, I must say that I'm very curious to know a little bit more about your whole creative process when it comes to writing
Pervin Saket
@PervinSaket · 2:24
You. Hi. Yes, thank you for that question. That is something that I've been thinking about as well. And I must admit that it may seem the opposite, but it is actually much more difficult to write for children than just to write for adults. It is certainly the case with me. I think with adults, um, I can expect readers to do a little more work
Thank you so much praveen for a wonderful conversation. It's been fascinating getting to know a little bit more about your creative process and your perspectives on writing, and also a sneak peek behind these two wonderful books, Humor with Mario Miranda and Tenacity with Dadasahe Falke. I shall be including the Amazon link to both of these books in my description for listeners to check out. Thank you once again for joining in and all the best