[originaltext]M: So, now, you are out with your latest novel. It’s called Queen

M: So, now, you are out with your latest novel. It’s called Queen of Dreams. Why don’t you just talk a little bit about the process you went through? Did you feel a bit like a student, or do you talk to your students about—did you have to do many rewrites? Tell us a little bit about the process.
W: Yes, definitely. When I was doing Queen of Dreams, when I was writing that, I had to do a lot of revision. I always do a lot of revision. I’m kind of one of those addicted, compulsive revisers. And for me, each word just has to be right, or I’ll keep worrying the text, I’ll keep working with it. And one of the first things that’s always important to me in my writing, and certainly in Queen of Dreams but also in earlier novels like Mistress of Spices and Sister of My Heart, is that I have to have a very strong idea of the protagonist or at least two or three of the major characters before I can start writing. I have to be able to visualize them, I have to understand their inner thinking, and I have to get a sense of their voice, how they speak. And I can’t start stories until I have that clearly in my head.
M: Are any of the voices, or students, in your classes, are they from other communities, other cultures, so they’re speaking with a wide variety of voices?
W: We have a very multicultural program, and I have students who are Indian American. I have African American students. I have Latino American students. I really have students from just about, so many cultures, and that creates a really wonderful mix in the classroom, because everyone is bringing their own culture into their writing. And even though they’re writing in English, they have the rhythms of their own mother tongues.
M: And what is your mother tongue?
W: My mother tongue is Bengali.
M: And is that voice heard in your novels?
W: Very much so. In Queen of Dreams, the title character, who is a dream interpreter, comes from Bengal. She’s living in the United States right now.
M: And, next week, we’ll hear more from Chitra Divakaruni, a novelist, poet and professor of creative writing at the University of Houston, in Texas. That’s all for now.
6. What did Chitra do when writing Queen of Dreams?
7. What is important to Chitra before she starts writing?
8. What can we learn about the students in the multicultural program?
9. What is Chitra’s mother tongue?
10. What can we learn about the novel Queen of Dreams?