PVLF 2025

Interview with Aditi Gangwar, Author of “Through the Mind’s Eyes”

Aditi’s Through the Mind’s Eyes blends poetry, sci-fi, and storytelling to explore love, grief, and childhood with raw honesty and emotional depth.
on Jul 25, 2025

Frontlist: Your debut, Through the Mind’s Eyes, blends poetry, a novella, and science fiction an ambitious and unique format for a first book. What inspired this structure, and how did you decide on it?

Aditi: To be honest, it wasn’t a structure I planned from the beginning. I have been writing poems for a long time, all the way since childhood, and just collecting them for no particular reason. However, once I got the opportunity to actually build onto that little collection and turn it into something for the world to see, it became something much bigger. I’ve always loved storytelling, especially the way fiction can hold a mirror to reality. That’s why I added the two stories at the end: one romantic, one sci-fi. I think it balances the abstract nature of poetry with something more grounded in narrative. It felt natural to blend formats because I wasn’t trying to fit into a mould, but it was rather an attempt to figure out what I’m most comfortable doing and experiment with different ways of expression.

Frontlist: You describe your poems as “a mirror to your heart.” Were there any specific moments or emotions that were particularly difficult—or liberating—to put into words?

Aditi: Definitely. Writing about grief was hard. Not because I couldn’t find the words, but because I didn’t know if I had the right to define something so big and personal. But once I did, it felt like I’d made peace with it in a small way. On the other hand, writing about joyous moments felt almost “freeing,” like catching something fragile before it disappeared. The act of putting them into words made them feel more real, more permanent.

Frontlist: The poem collection explores everything from love and childhood to grief and hope. Which theme felt the most personal or challenging for you to write, and why?

Aditi: Childhood. It’s such a complex thing to write about because it’s full of contradictions. There’s nostalgia, but also confusion. I think we tend to romanticize it, but there’s a lot of quiet loneliness in childhood, too. Writing those poems made me look at my own memories differently. It was personal because it meant confronting things I didn’t even realize I still carried with me.

Frontlist: “Till death do us apart” and the sci-fi tale adapted from Asimov’s The Ugly Little Boy add a surprising narrative depth to a poetry collection. What made you include these, and how do they complement your poetic voice?

Aditi: I think that poetry often leaves things unsaid or is up to interpretation, whereas a story gives you the complete scenario as is. Till Death Do Us Apart is about love, but it’s also about time and memory—things that show up in my poems too. And the sci-fi story came from a personal fascination with how science and emotion can collide. I adapted it from Asimov because it moved me deeply. In a way, the stories extend the emotional language of the poems and make the book feel whole.

Frontlist: You’ve written that you wanted to capture ‘fleeting moments’ through your work. As a debut author, how do you ensure that your raw feelings translate into something universally relatable?

Aditi: I think the key is not trying too hard to be “relatable.” The more I started being honest with how I felt without trying to dress it up in hopes of it sounding better, the more effective my writing became. We all experience love, confusion, fear, hope… they just wear different faces. So if a line or image is rooted in something real, it usually finds a way to resonate with people, even if that wasn’t the point of it when I started writing.

Frontlist: The quote you reference, “Feelings are like waves…” clearly reflects the emotional philosophy behind your book. Has writing these poems helped you ‘surf’ your own emotions more confidently?

Aditi: Yes, I’d say so, but not in the way people might expect. It’s not that I don’t feel overwhelmed anymore; I still do. But writing taught me that it’s okay to sit with those feelings rather than avoid them. It gave me a space to name them, to observe them without judgment. I guess that’s what “surfing” means for me now — not controlling every wave, but knowing I won’t drown.

Frontlist: Debuts often don’t get the attention they deserve. What do you think sets Through the Mind’s Eyes apart in a crowded literary space, especially as a deeply personal and genre-blending book?

Aditi: I think the honesty of it: there’s no performance here, just a collection of feelings and stories told without much filter. It’s messy in places, but that’s intentional. It doesn’t try to follow a single format or tone, which is risky, but it also makes the book feel more alive. It’s not polished in a traditional sense, but I think that’s exactly what makes it stand out.

Frontlist: If a reader could walk away with just one emotion or realization from your book, what would you hope that to be?

Aditi: That nothing is ever just one thing: joy and sadness can exist in the same breath. Grief can carry beauty, and even confusion has its own kind of clarity. I hope readers walk away feeling like they’ve seen a little more of themselves, reflected in someone else’s mind.