It's pretty neat to meet an author, especially one you've read when younger.

Janaki Viswanathan speaks on Jeffrey Archer

It's pretty neat to meet an author, especially one you've read when younger. I never really grew up on Jeffrey Archer though; it was more of a Sidney Sheldon fixation in our schools ufffd probably because of the largely 'adult' and therefore inappropriate content. Still, like most of us, I did enjoy Kane & Abel, The Prodigal Daughter and a couple of his short story collections. Then we grew out of the bestseller phase, it was no longer cool ufffdbut Archer kept writing.

Last week, I had a chance to interview him, something my larger family was much thrilled about, huge fans all, you see. I was more apprehensive than anything, his infamous temper had already made for a juicy, unpleasant story in a newspaper the last time he'd come down. But he was all animated, grinning and sunny this time around. Big deal, I kept telling myself, it's just Jeffrey Archer you know, the guy who was in prison, the guy who isn't really thought of much in 'literary' circles.

His answers were pretty regular fare too, about And Thereby Hangs A Tale, the Indian short story in the collection, until he got to talking about rewriting Kane & Abel. And handwriting his books. There was something about the way he put it, ink on paper as opposed to typing out a story, and how he got sentimental about Kane & Abel 30 years on. I could hear this star-struck voice in my head go, 'guy who created William Kane ufffd and Abel Rosnovski, Florentyna, he brought them to life!' And I was no longer embarrassed about having lugged along three of his books for him to sign.

During the interview, Archer suddenly wanted to know whether I was, or had already written a novel. When I said no, he wanted to know why, because apparently, all journalists have written one. And didn't really buy the 'I'm too impatient' answer that I mumbled, but let it pass. At the end of the interview, he sat down to sign the books with an unimaginative and perfunctory 'To ______ From Jeffrey Archer.' He made me spell out every name, refusing to understand P for parrot asking me instead, 'P for Peter?' But he did sound genuinely thrilled about being read by my niece. "She's 14? Bless her, I think I have hope with the next generation!" When done, I smiled my goodbye. "You're obviously more patient than I am," he said. Broad grin.

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