There are only two requirements for a writer, said Swedish author Henning Mankell to a gathering of 50-odd at the 18th Safdar Hashmi Memorial Lecture at the Sahitya Akademi,One,you need to burn to tell a story. Two,you need to find your language. The 62-year old crime fiction writer spoke extensively of his life back home and his travels through Africa as a writer-playwright,and what finally led to the birth of his iconic protagonist,Inspector Kurt Wallander. A childs imagination has no obstacles to deal with; everything is possible. I try to be as good as I was as a ten year old when I am writing, said the author,who has also written prolifically for kids. Incidentally,he is married to Eva Bergman,daughter of renowned Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. During the 45-minute talk,Menkell spoke of the various encounters that has shaped his literary sensibilities the meeting with a young malnourished boy in Maputo who painted shoes on his feet to give the semblance of human dignity during times of strife; an elderly woman who seemed to be a thousand years old and how she made him dance while telling his story; and how the end of the civil war coincided with the last stage performance of his play,an adaptation of the Greek play Lysistrata. But I could be talking till the cows come home at night,as they say in Sweden, he said as he wrapped up the lecture,and began the book-signing.
