Green Plastic Buckets
An Interview
with author Anjana Basu

Although Anjana Basu cannot recall what exactly caused her to notice the striking green color of the buckets in Calcutta, her line, “Anything with a shine can be faked at a distance,” was written with a definite intention. 

“Things that glitter can be seen shining at quite a distance. However, you can't tell what it is that is glittering. You might mistake it for gold or diamonds and then come up close and see that it's actually tinfoil.”

Even though Basu has experience in several different genres, she does not label herself a poet or an essayist.  Instead, she considers herself a writer in a larger and more encompassing sense.  In “Green Plastic Buckets,” her writing is full of fluid and poetic imagery.  Basu attributes this style to the blurring of the line between genres.  “Prose can be poetic, too,” she notes.

Although she draws inspiration from many writers, Basu says she has been most influenced by Kipling, Rushdie, Tagore, and Hemingway.

Basu has not had yet had to grapple with writer’s block (we should all be so lucky!), perhaps because the best writing advice that she has ever received is to keep on writing and to be true to herself. 

—Corey Ginsberg