Renowned for his evocative narratives and vivid descriptions of life in the hills of India, Ruskin Bond's contributions have enriched the literary landscape not only in India but around the world for more than six decades. From his first novel “The Room on the Roof” and through his numerous short stories and essays, he has been able to foster a deep connection with readers around the world. Bond's words resonate with readers of all ages and his writing is an emotion that readers have held onto over the years.
Ahead of his 90th birthday, which will be celebrated on May 19, the literary genius sat down for an exclusive conversation with News18 where he reflected on his extraordinary journey and enduring legacy, his works and much more.
Excerpts from the interview-
Can you reflect on your writing journey so far and what are some pivotal moments or experiences that have shaped your writing career?
My writing career began in the early 1950s, shortly after finishing school. I started writing stories when I was 16 or 17, and even publishing them, first basically in India, because that's where I grew up and that's where I went to school. And then I went to England for a few years, three or four years, and wrote my first novel. It was called The Roof Room. And well, it took me, it took me a year or two to get a publisher and I had to work very hard at it. I've never worked as hard on a book as I did on the first one. And finally a good publisher published it. Although it had to establish me to a small extent, as a writer, I never stopped writing. So that was in 1955, approximately, and here we are in 2024, I don't know now, let's see how many years are those? I'm pretty sure it's about 80. Right? I'm going to be 90 now. So at least 75 of those 90 years have been spent writing short stories, novellas, poems, essays and articles.
I used to write for magazines and newspapers. Now it's mostly books. So, along the way, I started writing for the general reader. And then when I was about 40, I started writing for children quite late. Now I think maybe it's 50-50. Every second book is a children's book. So I think in these 75 years of writing, it's been a long literary journey, but I've never made much money until, well, things got better in the last four or five years. But before that, I just wrote for, you know, because I love to write.
And because I felt like maybe I was doing some kind of service to young people, to encourage them to read, you know, and maybe take a small part in their development. Because after all, a book, a good book, helps your mind develop and mature, you know, when you're a child or growing into adolescence. So I think that by writing for children, in some way you are contributing something to society. While writing for adults, adults are already trained, there's not much you can do about it. But anyway I enjoy writing for both of them and for myself. Over the years, I have also gotten closer to nature and the natural world.
So, in recent years, a lot of my writing has nature as a background and I write a lot about mountains, mountain people, rivers, birds and animals. So, you know, it's a great, big, wide, beautiful world. And I'm just trying to capture some of that.
You just talked about how you've approached nature and the natural world over the years and you've had that as a background in your recent writings. Can you explain how your writing has evolved over the years, from your earliest works to your most recent ones?
Yes, how does writing work? Because in the early years, especially in India (going back now to the 1950s and 1960s), we didn't have many editors. We had educational publishers, but not general publishers. You know, no one published fiction, poetry, and children's books, nothing at all. So I had to write a lot for magazines and newspapers.
In those days, newspapers, almost all newspapers, had a kind of literary section, you know, a Sunday section, which had, you know, stories and essays and book reviews and so on. You don't see much of that now. Now they are mostly movie stars. So that made me angry somehow. So that gave me a foundation. And the hundreds of stories I wrote when I was in my 20s and 30s are still published in book form. So they have had a kind of second or third life. And in that sense I have been lucky. Of course, now I write, I have published abroad to some extent, but basically I write for them, my readers are here in India, among the young and also among the old, because I have been, I have already covered three generations of readers.
I know older people who read my stories 30 or 40 years ago. So it makes me feel pretty old, and I am. But I keep writing. I write, if not every day, at least every other day, I try to do a page or two, either of a story or I keep a diary, a diary, which helps me in my writing. And over the years, although I write, I am a personal writer, so I have written a lot about my own life and the lives of the people around me and the children I know and have watched grow up. So maybe even the way the country has changed over the years has been reflected in a small way in my stories.
So it's an ongoing journey and I'm still on it. And I hope, God willing, he can continue, I can still give my readers a few more words and give them a little pleasure too.
How do you approach creating stories for children compared to your adult audience?
Well, yes, writing for children differs from writing for adults in that you have to capture the attention of the young reader from the first page. He has to get into the story, otherwise he will throw it away, he will throw the book in the trash because he doesn't have the patience of an adult who is going to read two or three chapters. that lead to the actual story or plot. So you have to get into the story right away, very often you have to have a central character that the reader, the young reader, can identify with and feel that they are now part of the story and that it is about them too.
So you also have a compelling background, a believable plot, kids know what they like to read about, they like to read about, well, adventures for starters, they like to read about animals, they like to read about… Well, you Now too I get into fashion, I keep reading kids who want horror stories and I'm not very good at horror stories, but a girl came up to me and said: Mr. Bond, I like your ghost stories, but they're not. Scary enough, can't you make them scarier? So I said: I'll try, but I'm afraid my ghosts are quite friendly and helpful. So no two writers are the same, no two readers are the same, no two people are the same, no two dogs or cats are the same, everything is different in the world. So there is no shortage of topics to write about and that is why I continue writing, because there are still things to think about.
He has also recently curated a new audiobook for Audible called 'All Time Favorites for Kids'. How do you think audiobooks will be at the forefront of literary storytelling in the future and why should children be encouraged to listen to them?
Yeah, it's interesting because a few years ago, I think it was the 1980s, there were a lot of audiobooks circulating and suddenly there was a drop in the popularity of audiobooks and I think for about, in the 1990s and for 10 years. 15 years old, you didn't see them much. Now they're coming back, so they're coming back and I also get some royalties from my audiobooks, which is good, and I think more and more, and also because of technological advances, maybe it helps audiobooks. to become more accessible and popular and therefore I think they will definitely play a bigger role not only in children's reading, but also in older people's reading, because as we get older, here I am, sitting here , I don't see much now, my vision has practically disappeared. I can just write a little and read a little, but it will definitely help, it will be easier if I have an audiobook by my side. Therefore, not only young people benefit from it, but also older people.
Are there any upcoming projects or upcoming books that you are excited about and would like to share with us?
I have my own books, I have two or three coming out. I just read a story book called The Hoopoe in the Grass. It is about my own childhood, my grandmother and others. Then, during my birthday month, there is a book for adults called Enchantment Hill. It is autobiographical. And there is one book or another, which would be two.
Then there's one from Penguin Puffin and one from Harper Collins. Three or four come out. So Harper is doing How to Be Happy, that's for kids, for little kids. And then Penguin is doing Hold On to Your Dreams, which is for anyone who's growing up and not just growing up, even when you're 90, you can still dream and want to do things and do them. So all this, all this is coming to light. Everyone, all my editors, want to release a book on my birthday, so there's a real traffic jam. So I hope all the books have a jam too.
