Meghna Pant’s first job was that of a TV anchor for a business channel. She now edits a trade and business magazine in Dubai. In between, something really nice happened. She wrote her first novel One And A Half Wife, a fast-paced narrative that captures the social realities of our time. The book has been long listed for the Cinnamon Press Novel Writing Award, selected as a top ten finalist in Word Hustler’s Literary Storm Novel Contest, and has made it to the second round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

“Writing helps me make sense of the world I live in,” she says. “Business journalism is a lot about finding stories that affect the world, whereas fiction writing is the understanding of your life story, and using it as a vessel to interpret your world.”

Meghna studied to be able to work to pay the bills but writing is the only thing she does without expecting anything in return. A day in her life is pretty regular “get up, go to work, pretend to work, drink tons of coffee, and scour through Facebook. The only difference is that I’m constantly seeking inspiration for characters, plots and one-liners that provide grist to the mill”. Meghna tries to see a new country each year. “To be able to sit down and write about the world, it is crucial to first stand up and see what’s out there.”

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