Amitav Ghosh: ‘These people are going to keep me busy for a very long time’
Amitav Ghosh on Sea of Poppies and being longlisted for the Man Booker Prize
Congratulations on being longlisted for this year's Man Booker Prize. Where were you when you heard the news and has it sunk in yet?
I was in Calcutta, where I received a flurry of phone calls. And no, the news hasn't quite sunk in yet.
What interested you about the subject matter in Sea of Poppies?
The book grew out of a long interest in ships and the sea. But in writing about Indian sailors and overseas migrants, I also became very interested in the flow of opium from India to China. It was impossible to get away from it, in fact, because opium played such an important part in the economy of colonial India.
Why did you decide to write a trilogy?
About a year or so into the writing of the book, I knew that a single volume wouldn't be enough to tell the stories of the characters in the book. I wanted to be able to explore their lives, their children's lives, their descendants' lives. These people are going to keep me busy for a very long time, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Are you working on the second part of the trilogy now or on a different project?
Yes I am working on the second part of the trilogy.
Sea of Poppies is rich in language and you obviously have a great love of words. What appealed to you about the language and idioms you use in the novel?
I feel that in many ways, English was more open and inclusive in the 19th century than it is now. Asian influences, in particular, were much more evident then. People in England tend to think that the Hindi/Urdu inflected patois of London is a product of recent immigration. But in fact, Londoners who lived in India in the 18th and 19th centuries also had a Hindi/Urdu patois of their own. Similarly most sailors were fluent in trans-oceanic pidgin languages. Much of this variety was lost when English became standardized in the early 20th century. For me it was a sheer delight to rediscover this great wealth of words.
Identity is a strong theme in your book and in several others on this year's longlist. Do you think that this is a coincidence?
Personally I'm a bit sceptical of the notion of identity. I don't believe that anyone has just one identity - everyone has several. Certainly every major character in Sea of Poppies does.
Many Man Booker nominated novels have been adapted for film. Do you think Sea of Poppies would work on the big screen?
I've only ever thought of Sea of Poppies as a novel, so it is hard for me to think of it in any other way. But I was recently approached by a director who had some interesting ideas for a screen adaptation: he certainly persuaded me that it might be possible.
Where do you write and when are you at your most creative?
I need to be in a familiar place, working at a desk that I'm used to and feel comfortable with. The pre-dawn hours are often my most creative.
Can you recommend a book you have read recently?
Yes: A Case of Exploding Mangoes [by Mohammed Hanif]. I couldn't put it down.
Read more author interviews in the Perspective section.
Read about the 2008 Man Booker longlist.
