Pump Up Your Book Chats with Dilruba Z. Ara, author of ‘A List of Offences’

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Dilruba Z. Ara was born in Bangladesh. Nurtured on Greek mythology by her father, and hearing Indian fairy tales as bedtime stories from her mother, Dilruba had her first story published when she was eight years old. While in university at the age of twenty, she met and married her husband, a Swedish Air Force officer, and moved to Sweden, where she obtained degrees in English, Swedish, Classical Arabic and linguistics. She now teaches Swedish and English in Sweden. An accomplished, exhibited artist, her paintings have been used as the covers for the Bangladeshi, Greek, and U.S. editions of A LIST OF OFFENCES.

Visit her website at www.dilrubazara.com.

Q: Can you tell us why you wrote your book?

Ans: Crimes of honor have been a timeless issue in many parts of the world, and you will find similar stories in the media almost every day. But I wanted to give readers a good in-depth story to go with the facts, so that they are able to put themselves in the place of the victims, and also take a stand.

Q: Which part of the book was the hardest to write?

The hardest part was to try to cast light on what is actually happening to millions of girls, all over the world, through the story of one girl.

Q: Does your book have an underlying message that readers should know about?

I want them to be aware of the fact that even in our time women are being repressed within their own families. We need to take responsibility and do whatever we can to help girls in such situations. There are many girls who are disowned because their families persist in following rules set by the communities they live in.

Q: Do you remember when the writing bug hit?

Ans. When I first learned to read and write.

Q: Besides books, what else do you write? Do you write for publications?

Ans: I translate, and I write short stories and poems. Yes, the stories are written for publication. Most of the poems I have written very spontaneously, but I might one day collect them in a book. By the way, a Swedish musician has recently set a couple of the poems to music.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your childhood?

Ans: As far as I remember, it was very relaxed and joyful. I grew up in a family of six children, and my parents were well educated. My father had a huge library, and in those days, when I was barely five or six, he would bring home Russian stories made into Bengali serials. I remember him translating Greek mythology for us as bedtime stories. My mother introduced me to Indian tales. When I grew a little older, I started reading whenever I could, whatever I could lay my hands on ‒ I was even punished at school for reading too much. At our home, once a month, we had literary gatherings, and I was the only child among all those aspiring writers from India and Pakistan. Apart from reading and writing, I was also into painting. My big brother and I attended an Art school on weekends. In our early teens, my brother and I started putting on open-air dramas with our friends. There was an abandoned garage close to our home, and this became our club. My brother would adapt plays, even by Shakespeare, into versions suitable for us to perform. We would all rehearse there, every afternoon after school. The adults in the neighbourhood would help out with coins and notes. Then, when I turned fourteen we moved from that place and life became somewhat different.

Q: Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

Ans: It varies. But mostly it’s at the kitchen table.

Q: What do you do to get away from it all?

Ans: Go to the gym, run in the woods, paint, cook, or be with friends.

Q: What is the most frustrating part of being an author?

Ans. That I have to put aside time for promoting my books.

Q: What is the most rewarding?

Ans: That I can make my voice heard.

Q: If you had one wish, what would that be?

Ans: I would like to open an orphanage for girls in Bangladesh.

Q: If you could be anywhere in the world other than where you are right now, where would that place be?

Ans: Dhaka, Bangladesh, helping the victims of that collapsed garment factory.

Q: Your book has just been awarded a Pulitzer. Who would you thank?

Ans: I would first thank my readers, because without them I would not be a writer. Then I would thank my parents for giving me the gift of writing. And finally, my friend John Butler (of the Irish Times), for making me realize the importance of standing one’s ground. He died this April.

Q: Thank you so much for this interview, Dilruba. Do you have any final words?

Ans: For me, it’s about taking responsibility and doing whatever I can to make a difference. Thank you!

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