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My Writing Life: Taran Khan

Taran N. Khan is a journalist and writer based in Mumbai. She grew up in Aligarh and was educated in Delhi and London. She has published widely in India and internationally, including in Guernica, Al Jazeera, The Caravan and Himal Southasian and has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Jan Michalski Foundation and Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. From 2006 to 2013, Khan spent long periods living and working in Kabul. Her first book, Shadow City, won the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award and the Tata Literature Live First Book Award for Non-Fiction.

1. What book should every writer read?

Any book that takes in the folklore, magic, riddles and fantastic tales of wherever they live.

2. What is your typical writing day like?

I like to start very early and use the quiet hours to get creative work done, there’s a real freedom in that solitude. I also used to be able to work till late at night, but sadly no longer!

3. Who has been an influential figure in your writing career?

The many incredible people I meet as a journalist and non-fiction writer living in very vulnerable positions, who are often really gifted storytellers.

4. What is the one thing you wish someone had told you before you started your career as a professional writer?

It’s hard for women to trust their voices. Believe in the stories that call out to you and write them even when you think nobody else will be interested. So often those are the best stories you end up writing.

5. What is the best advice you’ve ever received about your writing?

Write it sideways; come at the big issues through the small imprints and fragments around them.

6. What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?

I don’t really have an outstanding moment of pride in my writing career, each work has led to different kinds of joy. I do feel great happiness each time a writing student or someone I mentor tells me they are able to find their way into their text after our conversation.

7. What are you reading right now?

Deepa Annappara’s The Last of Earth and Other People’s Countries by Patrick McGuinness.

8. Bookmarker or page-folder?

Page folder! Though I probably own a few hundred bookmarks.

This article originally appeared on our Substack. 

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