My books are just not plots, themes, characters, stories-Anandajit Goswami

Anandajit Goswami is a renowned Indian author. His science fiction series dealing with the character Lucy has been mentioned by ‘Indian Literary Review’ as the most novel work in the space of children’s science fiction and sustainability. His works have been covered by top media houses. His books have earned him the Best Fiction Author Award multiple times, and he has been listed by ‘Manorama Lit Fest’ and ‘Green Lit Fest’ for his scholarship, writing, and work on sustainability and climate action.

Interview excerpts

Q. As literature seems very close to your heart, how do you define it?

A. Literature is a process of observing, shaping, and reshaping the reality around us. In that process of observing, shaping, and reshaping, the heart constantly churns out a dream for a new world by observing different worlds at the same time. Literature is this process of bridging and creating these interconnections between an existing world and a perceived, dreamy, or futuristic world.

Q. Tell us about your books.

A. My books span characters, plots, stories, and texts that move all around themes of science fiction, sustainability, dystopia, cli-fi, court drama, violence, culture, identity, and crime thriller. In these books, I create a world of matrix where my characters like Lucy, Hema, Madhyam, Shopno, Siddharth, Esha, Rasul, Jacob, and Dr. Ghosh are born. These characters move around the themes of dystopia, science fiction, and sustainability in my three English books of the Lucy Series and two Bengali books of the Lucy Series, starting from ‘Lucy and The Train’ to ‘Lucy and The Rise of Parabola.’ The characters become violent, caught in a trap of survival and life in Pink Gender Extended, driven by magic and accident of events in their destined intertwined lives. Further, the characters take a journey of self-realization and exploration in ‘The Rise of The Club of Central Tendency’ and ‘Siddharth – The Soul Seeker.’ In the upcoming works, some more versions of that matrix that my literature creates are going to come.

Q. Your latest book Siddharth is gaining wider acclaim. Tell us about it.

A. Siddharth – The Soul Seeker is a time-space journey of an individual and his interaction with the changing society and psycho-social environment of the individual self with the world outside. The journey is driven by a periodic drama interspersed with the self-realization of an individual’s identity that he seeks to discover through introspection and experiential life journey marked by love, hatred, violence, gore, care, and affection. In this journey of self-realization, the ordinary in him becomes extraordinary to stand up for a cause for humanity through a salvation that involves a revival of history.

Q. How are your books different from the books of other authors with somewhat similar themes?

A. My books are not just plots, themes, characters, or stories. They are much beyond these four. Somewhere, my books are also a catharsis for each reader and their exploratory self with multiple interpretations of their own self. In each book, the reader gets a chance to move forward through different philosophical directions and see different forms of realities and possibilities. In a way, readers of my books get an opportunity to understand how life and reality are defined and undefined in many forms and ways. Further, the characters and chapters not only tell a story but open up different levels and degrees of truth and push readers to face those truths.

Q. You are a great musician too. Tell us about that aspect of your persona.

A. I have been practicing music since the age of four. Melodies, notes, and sounds come to me naturally and help me see and feel my persona through them, expressed through my almost 40 compositions as of now, which are available on different streaming platforms.