PVLF 2025

Interview with Himanjali Sankar, Author of Talking of Muskaan

Talking of Muskaan explores identity, acceptance, and resilience through teen voices, shedding light on bullying, depression, and quiet strength.
on Jun 27, 2025

Frontlist: Talking of Muskaan dives into sensitive issues like identity, mental health, and the search for acceptance. What inspired you to write this story, and why did you feel it was important to tell it from the perspective of teenagers?

Himanjali: The search for acceptance, belonging, identity, are such basic human urges, it’s what we all grapple with in some manner or the other more often than we perhaps realise. Talking of Muskaan engages with these issues in a fairly direct manner but, really, it is central to our lives and, therefore, by extension, to writing and literature. And teenage is a time when such issues become formative and important, it’s what determines how we approach all of life as adults, so it made sense to use teen perspectives when dealing with these themes in the book.

Frontlist: Muskaan’s story is both intimate and universal. How did your own experiences growing up in Kolkata and studying literature shape the emotional landscape of this book?

Himanjali: Growing up in Kolkata in the 1980s, studying in a convent with rigid moral codes and reading all the books I could lay my hands on, and then going on to study English Literature, all of it shaped me, messed with me, and left me with memories that found their way into Talking of Muskaan.

Frontlist: Your background in editing and teaching must offer a unique insight into young readers. How did that experience influence how you approached storytelling for a young adult audience in Talking of Muskaan?

Himanjali: What engages me first is the story I want to tell and how I want to tell it. I don’t know if I have any unique insights as much as a natural accumulation of experiences and ideas that are unique to me (as happens with each person in the course of their lives) and they do find expression in my writing. And, yes, being an editor in children’s publishing as well as the brief period of teaching that I did showed me new ways of looking at and understanding young people and literature.

Frontlist: SunLit is about the illumination of mind, emotion, and spirit. What kind of emotional ‘light’ do you hope this book shines on issues like bullying, sexuality, or depression among teens?

Himanjali: Strength, resilience and the ability to absorb and recover from all that life throws at us – that’s the light we all need, emotionally, spiritually, and in every way possible. And, of course, to learn kindness in our dealings with others, that’s what I hope this book shows as the best way to live and love, always.

Frontlist: One of the most striking aspects of Talking of Muskaan is its multiple perspectives. Why did you choose this narrative style, and how did it help you tell a fuller, more complex story?

Himanjali: I love narratives that unfold through multiple points of view – it’s always the loveliest way to tell a fuller, more complex and complete story. How two people can have different, often contradictory, takeaways from the same event, how the inner lives of each of us unfolds in very different ways even in the same circumstances, is something I’ve always found fascinating. It’s the only way to get to something that’s meaningful and true - through fragments, through snippets, through differing perspectives that come together to tell a story that’s intriguing yet rich and layered.

Frontlist: Muskaan’s silence is powerful. How did you develop her character to speak so deeply without always having her voice take centre stage in the narrative?

Himanjali: When I started writing one of the povs was Muskaan’s but my editors and I later felt that the story would be more powerful if we didn’t hear Muskaan’s voice directly which is how it became Talking of Muskaan. Her story unfolds through what her four friends have to say about her. The way her friends perceive her, each of their perspectives unique and different, and through these we come to know Muskaan and what she’s all about.

Frontlist: What has the response been like from young readers, teachers, or parents? Have any reactions to the book stayed with you or surprised you?

Himanjali: I’ve had young readers tell me (sometimes in whispers) how reading Muskaan helped them understand themselves better, made them feel less isolated and understand why and how they are different from others and that’s alright. Honestly, I was just telling a story, letting the narrative take me where it would, so to know the story made a difference to a young person’s life and way of looking at the world always feels good.

Frontlist: You began your writing journey with children’s books and then moved into young adult themes. What drew you to this transition, and how does it challenge or energise you creatively?

Himanjali: It was incidental that my first book was for children – it grew out of a children’s writing workshop that I attended. Actually my second book emerged from a children’s workshop too so I suppose I find writing workshops stimulating. For Muskaan, the idea for the story came first, so it was the theme that determined the age demographic for the book. The child in me is still too alive for me find writing for younger people a challenge – not sure if I should be embarrassed about this but admitting it, anyway!