Dr. A.V. Koshy, Author

Dr. A.V. Koshy is an author, essayist, theoretician, researcher, entrepreneur, pioneer, innovator, philanthropist, teacher, educationist, short story writer, novelist, poet, critic and artist, who has published a book, articles, poems, research papers, and more. He is an award winning writer, husband, father, and lover of life.

Welcome Dr. Koshy!

Where are you in the world?

I actually hail from Thiruvananthapuram, called Trivandrum by the British, in Kerala or “God’s own country” as it is more popularly known in south India. But when I and my wife found my son has autism we shifted to the metro Bangalore in Karnataka known for its cyber companies. The need for finance made me go abroad and presently I am in Jazan, Saudi Arabia, in a college here teaching English Literature as an Assistant Professor. This is factual. The other place I am in mostly is facebook. Smiles.

Tell me about your writing....

Writing is unashamedly my world, passion, lust and lover. I started very young, it was and is a family tradition, and at age four I won a prize in a prestigious international competition started by an Indian for a poem. It was the Shanker’s International Competition for Arts. My two brothers and sister also got it. Both my dad and mom and my wife and daughters write. The poem was on the beauty of nature I think, and all I remember now is a simile, me comparing in it the moon to a plate, a reductive but realistic one.

How do you maintain thoughts and ideas?

I used to read a lot. I travel out of necessity; I experience everything, live life as fully as I can, as intensely as I can. I feel a lot, especially the sorrows of others. So after years of writing I found something happened to me inside inspired by great artists and writers which is that writing now just flows out of me. I do not bother to even document it much, it’s like oceans pent up finding release and it just goes on. I love this surge, and live for it. Nothing inspires me as much as family, the Bible, Christ, women, love, sex and this adrenaline rush or high. 

My books, Wrighteings: In Media Res co-written with A.V.Varghese and A Treatise on Poetry for Beginners as well as the one on Samuel Beckett coming out from Authorspress, based on my thesis, or my poems etc, all seems to hang around these themes. As a critic and poet as well as short story writer I find my range is very wide actually unlike many I’ve met today - but I need to write more humor, and comedy, and try my hand at the novel and the drama. I want to see how it goes with my collection of short stories soon to be released by Lifi first. 

Getting picked in editor’s choices by Russell Streur of Camel Saloon, with a poem nominated for Pushcart Prize for Poetry 2012, and also my Treatise being chosen as best Indian reads 2012 by The Butterfly and the Bee, have given me confidence that my best work will not only come forth now but find an apt audience.

Where do you like to write?

Now it’s come to the point that it’s not where but with what- I can write constantly if I have my netbook or comp or laptop with me and am wired to the internet.

What are you currently writing?

I write poetry but I am also working on a novel and three collaborations, one non fiction and another poetry collection. I don’t hurry – I expect and try to produce great work.

Do you have advice for beginning writers?

Yes. Never give up and constantly improve yourself and you will make it. Believe in yourself and try to be the best and never say no to experience and to deepen your vision. Try to be great and not just a writer.

What is your favorite facebook writers group?

Dreaded Poets Society – it’s a fun place where we all try to write trash and mediocre stuff, started by my friend Vasudev Murthy who is another great writer.

Who is your favorite writer/author? Why?

My favorites right now are Charles Dickens and Shakespeare, because of the balance of comedy and tragedy in their works, I envy their range, as I find it easier to dwell on the tragic side but they are always able to bring in humor, light and darkness, everything in short. I don’t know any writer today who can do it that well. I also love the Indian epics and Tolkien for his vast imagination. I love a million writers actually, and though I’m a minimalist, I love Russian maximalism like crazy….  In poetry, I’m recently fascinated by epic poems and even dream of trying one! I love Steinbeck and Hemingway for their simplicity.

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http://www.amazon.com/Treatise-Poetry-Beginners-Dr-Koshy/dp/1479347655