The article is in Malayalam, but the video of me talking about the book at the end is in English! 🙂
Category Archives: Media coverage
‘The Shrine of Death’ is featured in Malayala Manorama Online!
Filed under Media coverage, The Shrine of Death, Uncategorized
Article: Divya’s debut novel is a thriller on stolen antiques
Following the launch at the SIBF 2018, this interview appeared in one of the region’s leading English dailies, the Khaleej Times.
The fiction title is a fast-paced thriller deal with the issue of idol theft and is a heady mix of crime, mystery, romance and the paranormal.
For debutant Indian novelist Divya Kumar, the protagonist in her maiden book The Shrine of Death had to be a woman. “It was a no-brainer,” she explained to Khaleej Times, after launching her book at the Sharjah International Book Fair late last week.
The Dubai-based author and former journalist’s first book was published by Bloomsbury India in April 2018. The fiction title is a fast-paced thriller deal with the issue of idol theft and is a heady mix of crime, mystery, romance and the paranormal.
“The book is a fictionalised account of actual events that occurred in Tamil Nadu in 2009 when a set of ancient Chola idols disappeared from an abandoned temple and were later discovered to have been smuggled out of the country,” said Kumar.
“This was the watershed case that eventually leads to the high-profile arrest of Manhattan-based art dealer and smuggler Subhash Kapoor.”
The book’s central character – Prabha Sinhan – is an IT professional who gets pulled into the murky world of idol theft and goes in search of her missing friend Sneha Pillai.
“Mainstream Indian media often portrays a certain stereotype of women in mass media. Like a manic pixie dream girl, or a virtuous, pious woman, or an oversexed glam doll, or even a confused, flaky millennial,” she added.
Kumar’s character had to be a relatable, regular young woman who was not epitomised in any manner. “I also wanted my character to be strong, stubborn, and fiercely loyal,” she said.
A former journalist of The Hindu newspaper in India, Kumar moved to Dubai in 2016. “I finished a big chunk of the editing and re-writing process in the UAE,” she added.
Though the book had its first release in India, Kumar said she is extremely proud of being part of the Sharjah book fair.
“I wanted to write fiction for pretty much my whole life. From childhood, I’ve had a set of unfinished books and manuscripts. I worked at The Hindu from 2006 – 2011, but I stopped working full-time after my daughter was born,” she said.
She began seriously working on the novel, and it took shape after details of the Chola idols case unearthed.
“I was still with The Hindu when the bust of the idol smuggling ring was in the news. From a local case in Tamil Nadu, the case went international as it was linked to an international crime ring. It was covered extensively in the India media and I followed it with a lot of interest.”
For Kumar, the theme was a perfect fit for her book as she got increasingly fascinated with the subject. “The plot evolved out the details of the case,” she added.
As she began writing the book, Kumar imagined it to be part of a trilogy. “I am definitely working on a sequel,” she added.
dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com
The original article appeared here in the Khaleej Times.
Filed under Fiction, Interviews, Media coverage, The Shrine of Death, Uncategorized
‘The Shrine of Death’ launched at the Sharjah International Book Fair 2018!
My debut novel, ‘The Shrine of Death’ was recently launched at the prestigious Sharjah International Book Fair 2018 — the third largest book fair in the world, and the largest in the region!
Look what’s on the shelf at the SIBF 2018!
Here’s a glowing report of the launch in the Gulf Today!
SHARJAH: Debutant Indian novelist Divya Kumar received overwhelming response as she introduced “The Shrine of Death” to booklovers at the ongoing Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF).
Published by Bloomsbury India, the novel was released in India in April 2018 to glowing reviews by the press and readers alike. Since then its arrival was awaited by the UAE book aficionados.
It is a fast-paced thriller dealing with the hot-button issue of idol theft, and has a heady mix of crime, mystery, romance and the paranormal.
During a conversation at the SIBF with the acclaimed poet and author Anuradha Vijayakrishnan, Kumar said that the book is a heavily fictionalised account of actual events that occurred in Tamil Nadu, India, in 2009, when a set of ancient Chola idols disappeared from an abandoned temple, and were later discovered to have been smuggled out of the country. This was the watershed case that eventually led to the high-profile arrest of Manhattan-based art dealer and smuggler Subhash Kapoor.
“The Shrine of Death” tells the story of Prabha Sinha, an IT professional in the south Indian city of Chennai, who is plunged into a murky world of idol theft, murder, and betrayal after she gets a mysterious phone call one night from her old friend Sneha Pillai. As she races to find answers before the people she loves get hurt, she seeks the help of Jai Vadehra, a troubled young man with a tragic past, and police officer Gerard Ratnaraj of the Idol Wing, CID, whom she can’t help but be drawn to. Their search takes them from Chennai’s newsrooms and universities to the abandoned sepulchral shrine of a Chola queen in the heartland of Tamil Nadu. And here there is a twist in the tale.
Divya Kumar is a journalist, writer and blogger, currently based in Dubai. She spent her early 20s studying and working in the US, dabbling in web-design and media studies, before settling down to a career in journalism. After returning to India, she joined The Hindu newspaper in Chennai, writing for The Hindu Metroplus, covering mainly the book and art beat.
“I started writing this book when I took a break for the birth of my first child. Naturally, it took me three years to complete the book. Fortunately, I didn’t have to run after dozens of publishers. The only difficulty I faced was to convince famous literary agent Kanishka Gupta to have a look at my work. Once he agreed to, it was quite smooth as the editor, Himanjali Sankar, also had confidence in my work,” she added. Encouraged by the tremendous response, she has already started working on its sequel.
Currently available at Jashanmal Books stand at the SIBF, the title will shortly be available at leading bookstores in the UAE.
Also featured in the SIBF 2018 newsletter! 🙂
Filed under Fiction, Media coverage, The Shrine of Death, Uncategorized
A rave review for ‘The Shrine of Death’ in the Indian Express!
Book: The Shrine of Death
Author: Divya Kumar
Publication: Bloomsbury India
Pages: 296
Price: 399
If reading Divya Kumar’s The Shrine of Death while stretched out on a beach somewhere, remember to slap on some sunscreen and order enough beer to last you at least a couple of hours. Because once you start on this book, it’s unlikely you’ll set it down before you race to the end. The Shrine of Death has all the ingredients required for a thrilling beach read: an ambitious and beguiling beauty who stumbles onto a web of conspiracy and then vanishes, two amateur detectives — one of whom is harbouring a disquieting secret — and a dishy love interest (a man in uniform, no less).
The plot is fairly straightforward: IT professional Prabha Sinha gets an unsettling phone call from her old friend, Sneha, and is drawn into an investigation of her disappearance and the theft of some priceless Chola sculptures. The book switches between Prabha’s perspective, and that of the troubled Jai, who is, for reasons of his own, helping her figure out what happened to Sneha.
Apart from the deftly managed suspense, what draws the reader in is Kumar’s ability to flesh out characters. One gets a real sense of the emotional stakes involved, and, as the story progresses, the stakes only get higher. Given the premise — that of heritage loot, a major problem in India — this book could have quite easily been overloaded with research. But the writer maintains a light touch, although there should still be enough to satisfy art history and archaeology wonks.
This review for ‘The Shrine of Death’ was part of a round up of this season’s detective novels the Indian Express’ book section. You can read about all the other fabulous novels in the list here!
Filed under Fiction, Media coverage, The Shrine of Death, Uncategorized
Article: Tamil Nadu idol thefts give author creative spark
Photo credit: Deccan Chronicle
The journalist and author Divya Kumar has come out with a thriller ‘The Shrine of Death’. The book had a vibrant launch on Friday in the city.
The protagonist is a young woman, Prabha Sinha who is an IT professional in Chennai who is plunged into the netherworld of idol theft, murder and betrayal. Things start happening after she receives a mysterious phone call one night from her old friend Sneha Pillai. She seeks the help of Jai Vadehra, a troubled young man with a tragic past. She also seeks the help of the gorgeous DSP Gerard Ratnaraj of the Idol Wing, CID to whom she is irretrievably drawn towards. As the story unravels, she keeps on finding answers. Their search takes them from Chennai’s newsrooms and universities to the abandoned sepulchral shrine of a Chola queen in the heartland of Tamil Nadu.
The author took almost three and half years to finish the story. And since idol thefts had become common, especially after the robbery of 2008 by an international ring of idol thieves, she finds a cool focus point for the book.
“The story is purely an out and out entertainer with some romance, some paranormal elements”, said the author while explaining the subject matter of the book on the occasion of its launch. She hopes that people would enjoy the book picking it up on the airport or reading on a journey or while curling up by the poolside in the summer. A sequel to ‘The Shrine of Death’ is already in the process, according to the debut author.
The original article appeared here in the Deccan Chronicle.
Filed under Fiction, Media coverage, The Shrine of Death, Uncategorized
Article: Of Chennai, idol theft and a crime-thriller
A journalist becomes a debutante author with the launch of the novel The Shrine of Death
My book and I… at the launch 🙂 Photo credit: Shuchi Kapoor @girlinthegalli
A few years ago, reportage of the Chennai police department exposing a series of idol thefts planted an idea in the mind of journalist Divya Kumar. That transformed her into a debutante author with The Shrine of Death, a racy crime-thriller novel on the idol theft theme, set in Chennai.
At the launch of her book on Friday, Ms. Kumar, spoke of how much she enjoyed writing about places like Kamarajar Salai and T. Nagar.
“I grew up in the Middle East and went on to study in the U.S. But during my stint as a journalist with The Hindu for six years, I got to know the city well. Chennai is not getting featured enough [in mainstream popular fiction]. There is too much of Mumbai and Delhi; we need more of Chennai,” she said.
Best laboratory
In conversation with novelist and playwright Shreekumar Varma, she reminisced about her time with The Hindu and said the job was a fascinating one indeed, giving her opportunities to meet different people and taking her several places.
“It was like learning from the best laboratory. It helped me go from I-want-to-be-a-writer to being a writer,” she added.
Mukund Padmanabhan, Editor, The Hindu, who launched the book, said, Ms. Kumar lent a certain positivity when she had worked in the paper.
The original article appeared here in The Hindu.
Filed under Fiction, Media coverage, The Shrine of Death, Uncategorized
Article: The curse of empathy
Debutante author Divya Kumar discusses The Shrine of Death on the eve of the book’s launch
Picture credit: R. Ravindran, The Hindu
Divya Kumar wrote her first story at the age of five, about a fish and a tortoise who were friends. “I think my mother still has it saved somewhere,” she smiles in reminiscence, before moving on to discuss her first published crime thriller, soon to be turned into a trilogy.
The process of writing The Shrine of Death, she says, began in 2012. “I woke up one morning, and the character of Jai, the empath, was just fully formed in my head,” she says, “I didn’t even connect it to the term ‘empath’ back them: I just knew that this was a character who could feel what other people felt.”
“I started reading up online, and found that there are other such cases, and such stories, and it’s clearly something difficult and traumatising. Of course, it’s a bit in the realm of clairvoyance and telepathy – more pseudo-science, really — but it gave the character an interesting psychological profile.” It intrigued her, she says, how such a person would respond in everyday life and how they would be misunderstood by others.
As important as her characters were for this author, the plot went hand in hand, sometimes jostling for equal space along the way. “It started with this character, but was also equally driven by my interest in idol thefts and smuggling rings. Around that time, The Hindu was covering a lot of these idol thefts extensively,” she recalls, “I came across this case of two 800-year-old Nataraja idols that were stolen around 2008: the theft was discovered, and that triggered a series of events which led to the busting of an international smuggling ring. My whole story became a sort of prequel to that. Of course, it’s highly fictionalised.”
The balancing act between the plot and the interplay of characters’ relationships kept her on her toes, she says. It wasn’t even remotely a seamless process when she first sat to write, “There are three key characters: at points, I would be intensely driven by them and I’d write and rewrite their interactions. At other points, I would work very intensely on the plot. That was very different, because the plot was like writing code. You know, when you hit a bug, and you have to rework that…,”the former Computer Science students breaks off with a frustrated shrug.
The first novel has barely been released — and is still going through the initial hiccoughs of logistics and online supply — but Kumar has already moved on to the second book in the series. She’s halfway through, in fact. “The story won’t let me be, I need to finish the trajectory of the characters. I’ve been working on that for the last year.”
The trilogy was not something she had intended, or even seen coming. Kumar had originally begun writing The Shrine of Death purely for pleasure, as a much-needed “me time” exercise in the midst of a busy life. She didn’t even consider getting it published till rave reviews came pouring in from friends and family.
“The process of writing took three and a half years, because it wasn’t something I was doing continuously. When I started, my daughter was just a little over a year old, and I was a full-time mom. I was still writing freelance fairly regularly. So, this was something I would do for myself. The story was in my head, so I would often write late in the night after my daughter fell asleep. On weekends, I would leave her with my husband and go write in a coffee shop. It was just something to enjoy creatively,” she smiles.
The original article appeared here in The Hindu Metroplus.
Filed under Fiction, Media coverage, The Shrine of Death
Divya Kumar 