Ask the Author: Padma Venkatraman
Answered Questions (12)
Padma Venkatraman
My compass is compassion. I hope my work - my words - my books and writing will help increase mutual understanding and respect and empathy. That hope keeps me going.
Padma Venkatraman
Not really...
I guess there are points of entry for me into my characters, but I feel like they're different people
Uido in Island's End is way out - except we share the fact that we were both leaders and female...
Kabir is a different gender - he's a boy - so totally different in many ways - but I hope I'm as kind as he is in BORN BEHIND BARS
Veda dances like I wish I could... some of the thoughts/ questions about spirituality in the Vedanta Hindu tradition in A TIME TO DANCE are reflective of my Hindu heritage and belief systems to a degree
The kids in THE BRIDGE HOME are based on people I knew, not me
Vidya in Climbing the Stairs is probably closest to my experience and my spunkiness
I guess there are points of entry for me into my characters, but I feel like they're different people
Uido in Island's End is way out - except we share the fact that we were both leaders and female...
Kabir is a different gender - he's a boy - so totally different in many ways - but I hope I'm as kind as he is in BORN BEHIND BARS
Veda dances like I wish I could... some of the thoughts/ questions about spirituality in the Vedanta Hindu tradition in A TIME TO DANCE are reflective of my Hindu heritage and belief systems to a degree
The kids in THE BRIDGE HOME are based on people I knew, not me
Vidya in Climbing the Stairs is probably closest to my experience and my spunkiness
Padma Venkatraman
Luckily I've not had to deal with it yet.
Padma Venkatraman
LOL! With your blessings, soon!
Padma Venkatraman
No. It was an accident.
Padma Venkatraman
Never. Ever. Because if I did that, I might waste time worrying about what someone says or doesn't say about me... and I want to focus on creating compassion and increase empathy in our world through my work.
Padma Venkatraman
Check out www.padmavenkatraman.com and look at the THE BRIDGE HOME tab in the RESOURCES drop down menu - you'll see videos in which I answer this question, which are also on YouTube.
Padma Venkatraman
Ideas are like mosquitoes, always biting me said Jerry Spinelli, and his answer serves me well - I feel as if ideas are always floating around. The most frustrating thing while writing a book is getting involved too heavily in what material successes another book may or may not receive, which is not always related to what it deserves! Success can be distracting and the work is writing as well as I possibly can.
Padma Venkatraman
Too hard...but I am writing a novel with a touch of horror in it... keep an eye out for it over the next few years!
Padma Venkatraman
I'd travel to the setting of ISLAND'S END - the Andaman Islands. And I'd just meditate and write and draw and swim in the ocean and dive on coral reefs and walk barefoot on beaches and climb ancient trees in the rainforest...
Padma Venkatraman
A Bird Will Soar by Alison Green Myers tops my list this fall!
Padma Venkatraman
The mystery of how a kid who never saw women oceanographers like herself decided to become one!
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