There are no inherent words for descriptions of smell. You always borrow from your other senses to describe it: Divrina Dhingra

Team P3 is in conversation with author and journalist Divrina Dhingra, author of The Perfume Project. Divrina Dhingra is a journalist and has previously worked at Elle, Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar magazines. She lives in New Delhi. She is the author of The Perfume Project: Journeys through Indian Fragrance (Published by Westland, 2023). Prakruti Maniar from Team P3 was […]
“One of the most important and exciting things about objects is that they were made by people, for people.”- Sushma Jansari (Historian & Author)

Prakruti Maniar from Team P3 is in conversation with British Indian Historian Sushma Jansari at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2024 Sushma Jansari is a British Indian historian specialising in the Mauryan period and collecting histories. She is the Tabor Foundation curator of South Asia at the British Museum and a trustee of the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. Jansari is […]
“You want to shape the story to how it should be. It fails because it’s not your story. It’s the character’s story. It’s a story’s story. You are just a channel. Let the characters speak.” Saras Manickam

Prakruti Maniar was in conversation with award-winning writer Saras Manickam at the Jaipur Literature Festival early this year. An award-winning writer, Saras Manickam’s story, My Mother Pattu won the regional prize for Asia in the 2019 Commonwealth Short Story Contest. In 2021, it was included in the anthology, The Art and Craft of Asian Stories, published by Bloomsbury, and […]
Book Review: The Storytellers’ Secret by Sejal Badani

Prakruti Maniar reviews Sejal Badani’s The Storyteller’s Secret (Lake Union Publishing) The Storytellers’ Secret, author Sejal Badani’s second novel, has an incredibly promising and compelling premise. New York-based Jaya, who shares a difficult and estranged relationship with her immigrant mother, finds herself in a very dark place following several miscarriages and the resulting broken marriage […]
What to look forward to at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2024

Team P3 is at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2024 as they share notes on what to expect. Purple Pencil Project is at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2024 for the third time this year. Amritesh and I have been busy the last few days preparing for it – going through the speaker’s list, highlighting the sessions […]
“Here is a story sitting to be told, a story with identity as the focal point.”- Rashmi Narzary

Team P3 is in conversation with author Rashmi Narzary where we talk about her latest book An Unfinished Search (Published by Pippa Rann Books) Rashmi Narzary is a dog-lover at heart, an author by passion, a creative writing mentor, and an independent editor. Her book His Share Of Sky was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Prize for Children’s Literature in 2016. Bloodstone: […]
14 Literary Awards in India 2023

Team P3 curates a list of literary awards 2023. Outside of the popular awards like the Jnanpith Award, JCB, and Sahitya Akademi, there are plenty more awards in India, both central and regional. In this article, we’re going to look at the several literary awards 2023 in Indian literature. List of Literary Awards 2023 Bala […]
My choice of subject in the historical fiction space emanates from characters more than it does from the period in question: Anurag Anand

Team P3 is in conversation with Anurag Anand, an artist and author who has recently released his latest work The Crimson Throne of Mahoba (Published by TreeShade Books) Anurag Anand is an Indian artist, corporate professional, and author, with several bestselling titles in the self-help, general fiction, and historical fiction genres. His corporate experience spans […]
The fascinating world of food stories with Saee Koranne-Khandekar, author of 4 books on food

Purple Pencil Project’s editor Prakruti Maniar caught up with author and culinary consultant Saee Koranne – Khandekar to talk about Indian food, food stories, how writing and food influence her, and much more. Read on. Your Instagram bio says food / poetry / prose. What came first? Has your relationship with prose/poetry influenced that with […]
The power of a good story remains unchanged: Lavanya Karthik

As a child, Lavanya Karthik spent all her time writing stories in her school notebooks and drawing the pictures to go with them. She is now a slightly older child, still making up stories and drawing pictures. You can find her wandering about the bylanes of Mumbai, nibbling on chocolate, chatting with street dogs and […]