| Jhumpa Lahiri Poster by T.A. |
Jhumpa Lahiri
'Writing makes me so vulnerable'
Lahiri's tales of the experiences of Bengali immigrants in America have netted her a Pulitzer prize, so why does she still feel like an impostor in the literary world?
By Rachel Hore
Saturday 22 October 2011
There are not, I suspect, many authors who prefer never to read reviews and profiles of themselves. "It's just too much, like looking into a mirror all the time," says Jhumpa Lahiri. This is a pity, as she's missing considerable acclaim.
Saturday 22 October 2011
There are not, I suspect, many authors who prefer never to read reviews and profiles of themselves. "It's just too much, like looking into a mirror all the time," says Jhumpa Lahiri. This is a pity, as she's missing considerable acclaim.
Sitting across from me in her publisher's spacious boardroom in Soho Square, she looks a little weary. As well she might, having landed in Ireland with her children and her sister four days previously on a publicity tour that has taken in Hay, Birmingham and London, before she flies back home to the States tonight. "I haven't gotten over one lot of jetlag before starting the next," she sighs. She's very composed, a quietly spoken, gentle person with an air of stillness.