I don't prejudge books based on author's gender: Shobhaa De

Novelist Shobhaa De has said she does not prejudge books based on the gender of the author. The 'Starry Nights' author, speaking at the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival, 2020 on Saturday, said imposing gender restrictions before reading a book is like "prejudging a book".

"I do not believe in women's books versus men's books. I do not look at the gender of a person when I take up a book. I read a book which I want to. I think this approach is fairer," De said during a discussion on women writers.

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Noting that her next book will be a fiction, De said writing fiction can be extremely 'de-stressing and relaxing' and is a "fantastic emotional workout." Asked what goes in her mind while she writes a book, the author of best-sellers like 'Second Thoughts' and 'Bollywood Nights', said, "If it is a fiction, it is a process. The character has to be a part of my everyday life; that person has to talk to me, I can hear the words."

"Every fiction has a story and different writers have different ways (of telling a tale)," she said. However, when it comes to non-fiction, De said her "journalistic background, research and observing society" comes to the fore. De said writing columns is satisfactory "as I can share my views, to which people may or may not agree." De announced the name of Sujatha Gidla, author of 'Ants Among Elephants' as the recipient of the 'Prabha Khaitan Woman's Voice Award', 2020. The woman's voice award recognises new talents among women writers and focuses on memoirs, biographies and oral histories.

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