2.12: Tanuj Solanki - The Machine Is Learning

Published: Nov. 10, 2020, 9:30 a.m.

Writing literary fiction about artificial intelligence

Tara and Michelle talk to Tanuj Solanki about his latest novel, “The Machine Is Learning”, which was longlisted for the JCB Prize. We chat about why he decided to write about technology and the workplace in this literary format.

Tanuj tells us about his childhood in Muzaffarnagar and how his family encouraged his reading habits. He tells us how his creative process has changed from spontaneity to planned writing. Tara is impressed that Tanuj finds the time to write between his full time job and his role as the editor of The Bombay Literary Magazine. We chat about translations and how he likes to experiment in his writing. Michelle and Tanuj bond over their preference for short stories over novels and how he dreams of writing a fat novel one day!

'Books and Beyond with Bound' is the podcast where Tara Khandelwal and Michelle D'costa of Bound talk to some of the best writers in India and find out what makes them tick.

Tanuj Solanki is the author of two novels—The Machine is Learning (longlisted for the JCB Prize) and Neon Noon (shortlisted for the Tata Lit Live First Book Award)—and a short-story collection, Diwali in Muzaffarnagar (winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar).

Mentions: Moustache by Hareesh S., The survivors by Gurdial Singh, Your Face Tomorrow Volume 3: Poison, Shadow and Farewell by Javier Marías, Meena Kandasamy, Ben Lerner

You can get your copy of his book here: 

https://www.amazon.in/Machine-Learning-Tanuj-Solanki/dp/9389109299  

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