Welcome to the February 9th stop on the blog tour for The Winter Song by Saurav Dutt, organized by iRead Book Tours (tour schedule linked.) Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, other guest posts and interviews with the author, and a giveaway! (More on that at the end of this post.)
Since this is a guest post stop, I’ll let Saurav take it away first and then I’ll be back with everything else you need to know!
Guest Post by Saurav Dutt
Sometimes you do not choose to be a writer, the craft chooses you. A long time ago I decided writing was not for me. I had dabbled in a number of writing forms and tackled a number of topics and then years passed, I gave up on the concept of writing and the belief that my efforts deserved to be read.
Then life intervened and a number of social and political causes encroached upon my world. How could I help those in need? Money is an obvious step, but how much is ever enough? I had a voice but I was not a politician. I was passionate about media, but I was not a filmmaker. What I had was my ability to write and so began a career writing about subjects that matter, that have some consequence in the world. Human rights, domestic abuse, racism, history.
And if you are a writer in waiting and wondering what you should write about, then I can only recommend that you write from the heart, about what matters, about what can shape conversations, and allow others to learn.
In my new story ‘The Winter Song’ I wanted to tackle the subjects of grief, of longing, of recovering from loss at an older age. It wasn’t an easy topic but one that haunts you once you see loved ones pass and realise that others are left without them. What thoughts pervade their lives? How can they go on without the other person in the relationship?
Writing and storytelling is the prism through which we see our own life and the best writing allows you to acknowledge universal truths, or at least to think about how to deal with them.
Sometimes it takes something truly awful to happen before you decide the only way you can deal with it is to write it down. Maybe a diary is the only way, or a tape recorder, or perhaps it’s the medium of a novel or a memoir that allows you to share the journey with others who have seen and felt exactly what you have.
I’ve met many people who have become writers for exactly that reason, and maybe one of you reading this will be inspired to do the same because often it is the power of words that allow us to assemble our thoughts, and to reassemble the pearls of sanity that roll around in our heads.
And if that helps you to come to peace with yourself, the past, the present, and even your future, then you deserve to embrace with the storyteller within you.
About the Book
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The Winter Song
by Saurav Dutt
Published 15 December 2020
Genre: Romance
Page Count: 171
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
From the acclaimed Author of ‘The Butterfly Room’ comes a powerful afterlife drama conveying how great gifts can behidden in death and how they can bear fruit in our lives if we have the faith to let them unfold.
Somewhere between the mountains and the mist in North India, a widower must reconcile himself to the loss and grief that haunts him after the recent death of his wife.
Unhinged by grief, anger, and guilt, John Perera has set off on a journey, a journey to honour the love of his life and to fulfill the promise he made to her to uncover the truth behind the mysterious death of their son. It is a journey of extraordinary self-discovery that will take him to the extremities of his soul and question all he believes about life, death, and faith.
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK
About the Author
Saurav Dutt is an Author, Political Columnist and Human Rights Campaigner. A journalist in three continents, his acclaimed debut novel ‘The Butterfly Room’ explored issues of domestic violence and homophobia within South Asian communities and has been showcased alongside leading political figures and human rights campaigners. His work for human rights and charity campaign work has taken Dutt to speaking engagements at the WEF, IKWRO, IWN, Houses of Parliament and TEDx. After exploring the issue of psychological abuse and domestic violence in ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ Dutt was commissioned by a major Hollywood production house to pen the official novelization of the major motion picture ‘Tiger’ (starring Golden Globe winning and Academy Award nominated actor Mickey Rourke) and he commemorated the centenary of the infamous Amritsar Massacre in India with ‘Garden of Bullets: Massacre at Jallianwala Bagh’ which was featured in TIME magazine. TIGER is the biographical account of Parminder Singh Nagra, a trailblazing Sikh boxer who fought successfully for the right to compete in the ring with his beard, an essential part of his faith. A syndicated political columnist, Dutt writes for the International Business Times, The Times of Israel, Human Events, and American Herald Tribune. He has featured on CNN, GQ, Huffington Post, BBC television and radio, RT (Russia Today), Press TV, Sky News and more. He resides in the United Kingdom, Los Angeles, and India.
Giveaway Alert!
Win an ebook of THE WINTER SONG (1 winner, open internationally, ends Feb 19)
a Rafflecopter giveawayDisclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
How wonderful to have the author as a guest poster! This book sounds very interesting. Thanks for sharing!