Which author would you love to have dinner with?

If I could have dinner with any author, the first name that comes to my mind is Kamala Das.

I have read her other works, but it is her poetry that made me fall in love with her writing. There is something about the way she portrays emotions, relationships, womanhood, vulnerability and life that has always stayed with me. If it were possible, I would love to sit across a table from her and simply talk about poetry, life, and everything in between.

But if you ask me realistically, the author I would most want to have dinner with is Sudha Murty.

Her books found me at a time when I needed them the most. I was going through some of the darkest, most turbulent days of my life, and somehow her stories brought me back to reading. More importantly, they brought me back to myself. I tried many books, but hers were the ones I could return to consistently. They reminded me that books can sometimes become a way out of the darkest clouds.

If I ever get the opportunity, I would love to have a long, unhurried conversation with her over dinner.

What fascinates me most about Sudha Murty’s writing is its simplicity. Her stories don’t feel like lessons being taught to you. They feel like stories your grandparents might have told you when you were a child.

I was fortunate enough to grow up with grandparents who told me stories, shared little pieces of culture and quietly passed down values without making them feel like lessons. As an adult, I sometimes recognize those same values when I read Sudha Murty’s stories.

And I think that is what makes her work so special.

In a generation that is moving faster and faster, she is preserving something that could easily disappear—the tradition of learning through stories.

She isn’t merely writing stories for children. In her own quiet way, she is shaping how a generation understands kindness, simplicity, courage, culture and humanity.

So, Kamala Das is the author my literary heart would invite.

But Sudha Murty is the author I would actually love to sit with, have dinner with, and simply say:

“Thank you. Your stories found me when I needed them.”