"Brahms Comes to Dinner": Interview with Author Boman Desai

I was honoured to record this interview with Boman Desai, whose wonderful recent novel “Brahms Comes to Dinner” I highly recommend. You’ll hear how this work came out of Boman’s larger novel “Trio” and he shared stories about several of his other acclaimed novels including “The Memory of Elephants”, “Portrait of a Woman Madly in Love” and his book about the Lennon-McCartney Beatles songs “Dancing About Architecture”. Some of Boman’s writing comes from his Parsi family history and the life of his grandmother, and you’ll hear about several life-changing moments including with the legendary editor and writer Diana Athill. You can also watch the video on my YouTube and I’ve also linked the transcript. Have a look at the show notes of this episode on my website, where you’ll find all the linksI've also linked suggested episodes with Martha Anne Toll, Heather Taves, Michael Stephen Brown, Thomas Cabaniss, Yale Strom, Gabriel Kahane, Scott Nygaard among so many episodes since 2021. Sign up for my newsletter, where you’ll get exclusive information about upcoming guests, consider buying me a coffee on my Ko-fi page, or buying some unique podcast merch.All the links!(00:00) Intro(02:08) Brahms, Clara and Robert Schumann(18:28) excerpt from “Brahms Comes to Dinner”, research letters, diaries(31:21) excerpt from “Trio” Robert and Clara Schumann(35:26) Boman’s musical memories from childhood in India, Tovey writing about music(42:27) Parsi community, Diana Athill(45:24) other linked episodes and supporting this podcast(46:14) editor Diana Athill, “The Memory of Elephants”, Zoroastrian Parsi family, grandmother’s life(57:16) “The Elephant Graveyard”, the life of an author(01:06:30) “A Googly in the Compound”(01:11:56) editing and publishing his books(01:14:12) “Portrait of a Woman Madly in Love”(01:19:59) “A Googly in the Compound”(01:23:43) Diana Athill, life of a writer(01:29:28) Beatles book “Dancing About Architecture”, song analysis, writing about music(01:35:43) move back to India