Annie Zaidi’s Prelude to a Riot captures the anxiety, fear, injustice, changing dynamics of India, and what it means to be 'Indian'. Narrated in a series of soliloquies, children, young adults, and the old lay bare their innermost thoughts as tensions simmer, fault lines crack, while the whole community tries holding on to superficial social etiquette. It is a very quiet novel that demands attention, with its many sharp insights into how people turn against those they have known for a very long time. In conversation with the author about the book below:
What is your first memory of writing?
I did write brief essays and my own debate speeches in high school, but I did not really think of it as a creative undertaking. In college, when I began to write poems, essays and short stories, I grew conscious of ‘writing’ as an act of self-expression and a form of intercession, of arguing with the world.
How were you led towards pursuing writing as a career and what is your relationship with writing like?
I didn’t set out to build a ‘career’ in writing. I just wrote, since I had discovered that it gave me both relief and a sense of purpose beyond jobs. I studied journalism partly because it was one way of turning to writing as a vocation, but also because it was one of a handful of career options open to women who studied the social sciences. It is difficult to describe my own relationship with writing. The simplest and most honest response would be, perhaps, that it brings me to who I am.
Which authors and books were your early formative influences?
I used to read indiscriminately, hungrily. It is impossible to separate one’s early readings into categories of influential and non-influential. However, there was a lot of English modern classics in the mix of what was available to me. I read a fair bit of Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen and I re-read some of these works at different ages. I also read a lot of detective fiction and thrillers, and I continue to enjoy these, though I have begun to lean towards the more literary works within the genre.
I have also become more discriminating and less patient, but my reading in recent years is very diverse. I seek out recommendations in English and Hindi and I’ve begun to read more writers in translation from all over the world, and from within India too. All great books change the way I think or the way I approach my own writing. It wouldn’t be right to say that a particular author is a strong influence because I very rarely read everything by an author I admire, not in recent years anyway. However, there are particular books that I admire for the writer’s craft and for the layers of history, psycho-social insight and narrative experimentation involved.
What inspired Prelude to a Riot?
I was travelling to research a story about farm labour conditions, about three years ago, and found myself listening to a lot of conversations which turned into internal monologues in the novel. This was, on the surface, a peaceful place. There was no large-scale violence, just a lot of talk about taking pride in local culture and your own caste/clan identity. But there was a lot of prejudice in evidence and some of the things that were said chilled me. I understood instinctively that this is how violence begins — through words, through narrow identity formation that goes unchallenged.
Why did you choose to tell this story using a series of soliloquies and what was your creative process like?
I had notes from my research trip, and a lot of the material was interviews, or things I had seen and heard that upset me. I began by organising those notes and then I added some more information about what I had observed — truths about their lives that people would not admit to in conversation, but which they must know to be true in their own hearts. I found that it was possible to tell these stories, if I turned the conversation inward, making it secret and reflective, almost journal like. I began with two voices, representing the perpetrator of future violence and a potential victim. Then I found there was much more to say, that people in a town are connected through a web of relationships rather than a single, mutually hostile relationship. That’s how I kept writing more and more soliloquies, and then found characters and other devices to link all the stories and events in the novel.
What were some of the challenges you faced with this book?
The challenges of writing were mainly literary — how to find the story? How do I connect characters without over-plotting the narrative? How do I know when to stop writing?
How do you feel about being shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature this year, and what has the experience been like?
I am very glad the book is getting some recognition and I really hope it finds many more readers. The main advantage of a shortlist is that it brings a book more attention than it would otherwise receive in a very crowded market.
How have you been coping with the pandemic and what will be the new normal for you post it?
My life hasn’t changed very dramatically since I have been working from home for over a decade now. I am not terribly social either, though it has been hard not being able to go out even briefly. The pandemic certainly disrupted some research and travel plans. I’ve cooked a little more these last few months. My coping mechanism has been to keep doing whatever work I can do without venturing outdoors. I hope to return to the old normal although I anticipate some changes too. I have never enjoyed being in crowded places and I think I will just be saying ‘no’ more often.
Lastly, what are you working on next?
I’ve already got another little novel lying in storage. I’ll probably be looking at it, polishing it, editing it and so on.