Tiny Interview #16 - Mandira Pattnaik
Here we ask authors we admire to share their musings on art and writing, spill their current reading obsessions, and give us a tiny wedge into their creative life. In this Tiny Interview, meet Mandira Pattnaik, author of Where We Set Our Easel (Stanchion Press), Girls Who Don’t Cry (Alien Buddha Press), and Anatomy of a Storm-Weathered Quaint Townspeople (Fahmidan Press). Her latest work, Glass/Fire is newly released from Querencia Press.
Three Girls, Amrita Sher-Gil, 1935
Q: What book(s) are you reading right now?
A: I switch between books and genres as a habit, and rarely remain faithful to just one book. On my reading table, mysteries and romance and nonfiction rub covers and vie for attention. It is usual for me to read 3-4 books at a time, and also read journals and magazines as and when I can source some good print ones. I do not enjoy reading on screen, so that is a drawback. Recently, I found a copy of Elaine Aron's The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You. I look forward to it helping me understand psychology better.
Q: What are your current writing projects?
A: I took a break from writing and submitting as I adjusted to my changed routine after recently moving into a new apartment. I can already feel how much the break has helped me. I am working on a new plan for 2025 and hoping to reorganize where and what I want to publish. In the meantime, I am drafting those spur-of-the-moment micro pieces that seem to flow out unannounced. I am loving exploring this new-for-me writing category as I write slices of life/stream of consciousness pieces on the lines of the work done by Lydia Davis, Franz Kafka, Sylvia Plath, and Robert Olen Butler.
Q: Do any other art forms influence your writing? If so, how?
A: It's unnerving to imagine writing as an isolated, sanitized, art form. There's constant and enriching osmosis between different art forms. I believe writers have a responsibility. Writers must make others see something the way they see it--even if it is a spark of fleeting extraordinariness in the mundane generality. In writing, I share a narrative, a setting, and a bunch of characters that might or might not exist. It's fascinating how our minds get influenced by, and are inspired by, other minds. Quite often, I will delve into a new book or a piece of music as though I was familiar with it. Sometimes I will read poetry or browse paintings as though I am strolling into someone else's dream, good or bad. I am a big believer of how this give-and-take can be used to aggrandize us.
Q: Where is your favorite place to write, and do you have any writing rituals?
A: Again, like my reading, my writing is eclectic and varied. Strangely, and I am a bit embarrassed by it, so is my choice of place to write. There is no favorite place, but I do prefer home, and not public parks and cafes, although I could write there too. I adore my writing desk with a view of greenery. I hate closed, confined spaces; I am numbed by too much noise and clutter the same way I'm uncomfortable in silky, much-embellished places. My writing ritual is also about letting my mind speak to me rather than enforcing any routine.
Q: Who is a writer you wish more people were reading?
A: It'd be unfair to name a few. I just wish people read more--whatever, whoever. In fact, I hate that there's such a skewed publisher and reader interest in favor of big names. Without words and books, we'd all be fateless humans, but then again, if we read more widely we'd be better humans.
