Monica Ali: ‘I follow my interest and instincts — that’s the only thing a writer can do’
Monica Ali is one of the speakers at this year’s London Book Fair. Photograph by Yolande De Vries
The author speaks about her writing process and shares advice for those wanting to break into publishing
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Monica Ali arrived on the literary scene with a blast. Her 2003 debut novel Brick Lane, written in the scraps of free time between juggling a newborn and a toddler, earned her a Man Booker prize nomination and international accolades. She has since written four more novels as well as essays on topics ranging from freedom of expression to migration.
Her most recent novel, Love Marriage — a modern comedy of manners following the engagement between a junior doctor whose Bengali parents moved to London from Kolkata, and the upper middle-class son of an English feminist author — was published in 2022 and praised by readers and critics.
Ali sat down with Hyphen to discuss her career and approach to writing ahead of the London Book fair, where she will speak as the author of the day on 12 March.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you first get into writing?
I would often write in the middle of the night as my son was a baby back then and after feeding him I had trouble going back to sleep myself. I decided to do something more positive with my time and that’s how I first started writing short stories. Then I would start writing when he was napping and that’s when I had an idea for the book that would eventually become Brick Lane. I wrote it when my son was a toddler and my daughter had just been born, so it was really a matter of writing whenever I could.
So your children had a big influence on your writing process?
They are grown up now and that is actually its own challenge. Now, in theory, I have all day, every day to write. I sort of miss the added pressure of having little ones to look after. Because I feel like I should be writing the whole time, where in fact I can’t. I can’t maintain that focus for 12 hours at a stretch.
How has your relationship with writing changed over time?
You sort of expect it to get easier over the years because you’ve done it before and done it many times, but I don’t think it really does. You become more aware of your limitations and you’re always working to improve and trying to experiment. It’s like going to the gym, if you’re still doing the same thing as you were a year ago then you wouldn’t be improving. Maybe that’s why it feels like such a battle.
Could you share more about the book you are currently working on?
It’s a novel about friendship. It’s two couples who have been friends for a couple of decades, and it’s about the shifts and changes of those relationships. And I think that’s probably all that I’ll say about it now. It’s hard to talk about work that’s in progress in case it infects it somehow.
After the success of Brick Lane, did you feel a lot of pressure when writing your subsequent books?
Brick Lane was sold on the first few chapters here and in the US, so I felt a lot of pressure to deliver the majority of the book having never written one before. With my subsequent books I just wrote whatever I wanted to write.
Maybe I wasn’t aware enough of the pressure and expectations — I just followed my interests and instincts. I think that’s the only thing a writer can do. It’s pointless for me to try to come up with what the publisher or readers might want, because it might not be what they want after all. And I’m the one who will have to sit there and write it. Maybe that’s not a very smart way of operating, but that’s the only thing that I can do.
Your latest novel Love Marriage is going to be adapted into a TV series, how significant is that for you?
I remember a few years ago Meera Syal said we have gone backwards in terms of representation on television and I have been thinking about that a lot. She is totally right. I think there is a gaping hole in British television drama for something that is character driven, that explores the rather more messy and infinitely more interesting reality of what it might be to be a British Asian Muslim family.
South Asians are the largest single minority in this country, but they are the most underrepresented on the screen. This has got to change and I think it will change. I really hope that Love Marriage can bring those changes in.
In terms of diversity and representation, do you think the situation in book publishing is similar?
I do think publishing is more diverse. It is not some kind of utopia, there are still changes that have to be made but there are many initiatives looking to do that.
However, I think we will only start to see real change when the people in senior positions begin to reflect more broadly who we are as a nation. Currently, we are mostly seeing internship schemes.
What advice would you give writers from minority groups who are looking to be published?
First of all, I would give them the same advice that I give all other writers who are starting out. There are three things you need to do: number one is to read, number two is to read and number three is to read — you can’t skip that stage. You learn to write by reading.
I’ve taught writing courses but I never went to any. I didn’t grow up in a house full of books, we didn’t have much money. But I had a library card and that was my ticket to other worlds and other possibilities. So don’t be put off like I was for a long time, because you think it’s not for somebody like me. Do it anyway and ignore all trends and fads, because trends and fads change and writing and publishing is a long process. Only write what you are truly interested in and passionate about.
Monica Ali will be in conversation with author and critic Chris Power as the London Book Fair’s author of the day, 12.30pm-1.15pm, Wednesday 12 March.
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