Blog Tour: Interview with Sweta Srivastava Vikram

Hello all! I hope you’re having a lovely day. Today please welcome Sweta Srivastava Vikram to the blog as she speaks about her poetry collection, Wet Silence. 

Was there an initial inspiration behind Wet Silence?

I would say there were several inspirations accumulated over the years that inspired “Wet Silence:” Hindu widows whom I knew personally and interacted with; Hindu widows whose stories were shared with me by their friends and family; and, the fear that only one/limited story was being shared about Hindu widows.

What did you find most challenging about compiling this collection?

“Wet Silence” covers widowhood in a groundbreaking way where it traverses through the path of womanhood, desires, and sexuality. As a woman of Indian origin, who doesn’t write erotic or sensual prose and poetry, I felt self-conscious quite often.

Have you been influenced by any particular writer/poet’s style?

Pabulo Neruda’s lyricism stops my heart every single time.

Why did you decide to focus on the treatment of widows in India?

It wasn’t a deliberate choice. I write the stories that need to be told (from my humble point of view) and often times the stories pick me. Yes, the ill treatment of many Hindu widows and their place in society has bothered me for as long as I can remember. And, though a lot has been written about Hindu widows in India, I haven’t seen much about the path I have chosen for this book.

If you could meet any fictional character, who would you pick? 

Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. I have been loyal to my literary crush, Mr. Darcy, forever 🙂

What is the last book/collection you read?

I am reading two books on healthy living off late: “Clean” and “Ayurveda: The Science of Self-Healing.” But the book I last read and the one that kept me awake at nights and inspired me to make more changes in and with my life was Cheryl Strayed’s Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Author Bio:
Sweta Srivastava Vikram (www.swetavikram.com), featured by Asian Fusion as “One of the most influential Asians of our time,” is an award-winning writer, three times Pushcart Prize nominee, Amazon bestselling author of 10 books, novelist, poet, essayist, and columnist. Sweta is also a certified yoga teacher who shares the love and power of yoga with trauma survivors. A graduate of Columbia University, when Sweta is not doing yoga, cooking, traveling, writing books, or posts for magazines, teaching creative writing, or giving talks on gender equality, she works as a digital and content marketing consultant.
Sweta lives in New York City with her husband and can be found on Twitter [@swetavikram] and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Words.By.Sweta)