As the holiday season continues, six famous creatives share their plans for refreshing both mind and body, and reveal what they’re working on
As the holiday season continues, six famous creatives share their plans for refreshing both mind and body, and reveal what they’re working on
For filmmaker Mira Nair, the most “healing thing is the ocean”, while for writer Ben McIntyre, it is the journey. Last month, she undoubtedly felt right at home at Soneva Fushi at the Jaipur Literature Festival pitstop in the Maldives. But as happened on the heels of a two-year pandemic, conversations about the books were, predictably, interspersed with moments of nostalgia and plans for the future. What did he miss the most during the lockdown? What works best as a mental reset? Dinner parties said something. Cricket, others said. But many at the luxury island resort said they came out of isolation with great projects in hand. Some, like McIntyre, are even on time. “It is ironic that the film Operation Minsmeat [based on my 2010 book] Coming at a time when we are engaged in another European war, and this story now clearly has modern relevance,” he says.
At a time when summer vacations are being planned – or monsoon vacation, depending on which part of the world you are in – six renowned authors and creatives share what they are looking forward to in 2022, The topics that interest them now, and how they plan to refresh and refocus.
Portraits: Rohit Chawla; Location Courtesy: Sonawa Fushi & JLF
Peter Francopan
historian and writer silk roads
Theme for now: As is often the case in history, the topics chosen by ancient authors are those that are still most relevant. If you read the Vedic texts, the old classical Greek texts, scholars are always thinking about human interaction with nature. It is frustrating when we read about climate, resources, disease or war that we think we are the first generation to deal with these problems.
Most of the world needs a little optimism. When I choose something vintage, it’s meant to bring back specific memories. Take, for example, the voice of Lata Mangeshkar – which I first discovered while on a vacation with my wife in Nepal – while having breakfast by the lake of Pokhara. I replay his song every couple of months because it sounds great to me.
Even the fact that we mention clean technologies is ironic – we forget that entire human history was powered by sunlight, wind power and water for centuries. My job as a historian is to present facts about how we got to where we are.
reset: I play cricket. I play with a group of writers and we have come to India as a team on tour. I remember we played against an under-17 team at the Mumbai Gymkhana who took a look at us middle aged men and put our bowlers to bat first.
Mira Nair
Film Producer, Producer and Director a suitable boy
Theme for now:monsoon wedding Will premiere as a stage musical in November. What I am yearning to do is to make my own film on painter Amrita Shergill, which I have written, if I can raise money. I want to know more about Indian painting, Urdu poetry and music. I would like to devote time and attention to the study of the Vedas: RigvedaThe Upanishads, I want to plunge into the depths of knowledge.
I carry music everywhere. Chopin’s Raindrop Prelude, Miles Davis, Ustad Vilayat Khan – I hear a lot from classical traditions. But it’s not nostalgia, it’s what you want to nourish your soul with.
reset: For me, the most healing thing is the ocean. After every movie, I usually get tired and the only thing I do is go to sea. You are possessed by the waves and you are nothing compared to the elements. I practice Iyengar Yoga daily. It keeps me strong and enables me to understand resistance and dedication. That’s the core of creativity, so yoga helps me stay on track.
Patrick Raiden Keefe
investigative journalist and author The Kingdom of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Theme for now: I’m ready to intrigue. There are crooks, cheaters and cheaters in our world, so I will always have their stories to tell. thematically, the intrigue is fundamental in the pieces I’m doing now [for The New Yorker], I like to tap into surprises when doing investigative pieces. If I’m surprised, readers will be too.
reset: I always thought runners were crazy, but during the pandemic, I had to step out of the house. It was the only escape, and I finally discovered Runner’s High.
Andre Eckman
academic and writer call me by your name And find me
Theme for now: I like to write something that is in my stomach. I just published an audio book – the story of two people who meet in their mid-60s. Nothing happens in the mid-60s. I mean, what are you talking about? your grandson? Or how to spend the time you have together? I wanted to write about a couple who meet late in life.
reset: For some people, reset is a moment of opportunity, for me it’s a scary one because it means you nullify whatever it is you have to open your doors to something new.
Huma Abedin
American political consultant and author both and
Theme for now: Raising other women. The notion of mentorship is very important right now. I was recently at a global conference where more than 50 successful female professionals were interacting with women under the age of 30 – providing their learnings, knowledge, experiences and guidance. I realized that this is a topic that I am very interested in. I got it from my former boss, Hillary Clinton, who was a motivational mentor to me. I think the world needs more to hear stories of women raising other women.
My guilty pleasure has always been Jane Austen. The way she used to write, I could memorize the lines. I read a lot. The last book I read was Big Guns, a satire and joke of the gun industry in America. Mostly, I love memoirs and personal stories about women.
reset: Reading and Prayer. I have struggled with this. Especially with the war in Ukraine, inflation, the state of democracy in the world, and midterm elections in the United States, there seems to be a lot of uncertainty.
Ben McIntyre
Historian, columnist and author of Agent Sonya: Moscow’s most daring wartime spy
Theme now: I am fascinated by the world of detectives. Not only deception, but the whole operation of the secret world. Intelligence and espionage are as important to the world today as they were before, perhaps arguably more important than they used to be. Open any newspaper and a lot of it is about being exposed or kept secret. There are competing narratives, competing methods of storytelling, and competing histories. which I find attractive.
reset: travel. I’m very lucky – I have a place on the far west coast of Scotland, a rural place, idyllic, isolated, miles from anywhere. From there I go to start again.
The author is a Delhi-based media professional and director of content and programming. Rohit Chawla is a photographer and artist.
“When photographing an author, I am dealing with an interesting paradox. On the one hand, I am exploiting their vanity, but on the other, writers are self-destructive people. As a photographer, that The playfulness of the times was in inviting that part of the author who would be interested in the picture. Each picture tells the story of the brief but intensely intimate literary moment shared with him.”Rohit Chawlaphotographer