After publishing the review of Lady Kishwar Desai’s latest novel “Witness the Night” we were curious to learn more about the author and the background of this powerful story about prejudice and violence against women. Kishwar has had a long career working in media as a journalist, TV anchor and producer, as well as becoming head of an Indian TV channel. She is now a full-time writer with a weekly Saturday column in The Asian Age newspaper. She lives between London, Delhi and Goa, currently working on a biography of Devika Rani and Himansu Rai.
CBF: Why did you think of gendercide as the theme for your first novel?
Kishwar Desai: It was a chance encounter while I was running a TV Channel in Punjab, and one of the guests on the channel starting telling me about her life. It turned out that she had survived an attempt to give her opium and then kill her when she was born. Her story haunted me –and I kept wondering how she would feel, as an adult , looking at her parents and seeing her would-be assassins.
