Even before my father captivated toddler Anu’s imagination with fantastical, wondrous, and vivid stories, I was drawn to books; stacks flanking me as I learned how to sit, later turning their pages just to peek at words I wouldn’t be able to read for a few more years. Now, three decades, four countries, and two writing and one publishing degrees later, What About Words (formerly The Storyteller) is my attempt at sharing that love with fellow lifers, new readers, and anyone and everyone in between.
What can you expect?
Anu Recommends: Recommendations and reviews of books and authors (with the occasional TV show or movie), as well as general bookish, writing, publishing, and reading-related chat, including writing life updates and tips on process. The occasional deep dive. Frequent gushing. Lots of bookish photos and references to The Arsenal and Middle Earth.
Creative Chats: This is the author interview series soon to be expanded to include chats with all creatives - writers, authors, musicians, artists, and others.
Story Sunday: Original fiction (micro, flash, short stories, and longer), as well as literary and personal essays, creative non-fiction, longer reviews and articles, and more.
I want this to be a cosy, welcoming space for readers and writers of all stripes, and anyone who is just venturing into the wondrous wilderness of words.
Storytelling is more important now than it ever was, and it was never insignificant to begin with. I believe, as writers, that it’s our little rebellion against existential questions, more so in an age where there is increasing social isolation, increasing uncertainty about the future of our species and the planet, increasing stresses and anxiety.
I’m inspired by so many things in my journey of exploration of my own emotional landscape—the books I read, the people I meet and their stories, the places I visit, the things I see—and that usually trickles down to my work and the questions I want to answer, explore, and develop on the page. It also trickles down to the books I seek and the stories I hold dear.
You can read some of my literary work here and here, my football work here, or follow along to my increasingly sporadic book chatter over on my Instagram at @anushreenande.
The written word has always been my most natural mode of expression and I’m privileged to work with it, whether my own, or that of others, for a living. I’m grateful for a chance to continue playing my part in the great storytelling tradition.
I hope you’ll join me on this journey every alternate Sunday!
Anu x
