Embracing the miracles of daily life

The sub-genre of memoir writing, within the larger genre of nonfiction, has become quite popular in India over the past decade. Biographies, memoirs and historical nonfiction now flood the market, and according to publishing sources, are very popular. It is in this light that I contextualise There's a Ghost in My Room, the debut book by Sanjoy K Roy.

- Sudeep Sen

Roy is publicly known as managing director of Teamwork Arts, which produces over 30 acclaimed performing arts, visual arts and literary festivals across 40 cities, in countries such as Australia, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, UK and USA; including the world’s largest literary gathering: the annual Jaipur Literature Festival. But Roy as a writer? He often asks fellow writers these days, “How do you guys write book after book. Writing one is so difficult.”

He said he wrote the bulk of this book on long-haul flights. Intriguingly, it carries the subtitle: Living with the Supernatural. So where are the ghosts here? Does one have to really see to believe them, or can we trust our imagination for them to be true? Do ghosts exist, or are they only figments of our imaginary landscape? What is real, what is virtual? These are some of the questions Roy explores.