LAHORE: A fascinating conversation with celebrated Spanish author Javier Moro was held at Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, on Saturday.

It was organised by the Lahore Arts Council, in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain. Spanish Ambassador Jose Antonio de Ory also graced the occasion.

LAC Board of Governors member Razi Ahmed, also the founder of the Lahore Literary Festival, introduced Javier Moro as an internationally acclaimed author. Moro travelled to India in the late 1960s when he was 14-year-old and he was charmed by the country as well as the region, Razi said.

“Moro has extensively written on the region (subcontinent) in a style called dramatised history, recreating the life of historical characters.”

Spanish author plans to write a novel on Benazir Bhutto also

Razi Ahmed termed Moro a writer and a journalist of great calibre with the bestselling novels to his credit.

In conversation with Moro, the honorary consul general of Spain in Lahore, Jalal Sallahuddin, asked many interesting questions, including those about the thought process, his inspiration to recreate historical characters, difference in fiction and history, especially in reference to his two bestselling novels, Passion India and The Red Sari.

Mr Moro said he had a close association with the subcontinent.

Discussing Passion India, which brought international recognition for Moro after its publication in 2005, the novelist said the book was a story of love and betrayal between Spanish singer Anita Delgado and Maharaja of Kapurthala Jagatjit Singh set in 1906. The novel registered sale of 1.3m copies, followed by translation in 20 languages.

Mr Moro described the novel as an insight into the culture and life of the Rajas who were wealthy puppets of the British. The novel also described palace life, regional politics and the British Raj. Maharaja had been portrayed as a person who maintained a balance among different communities and who was a caring and large hearted ruler.

Moro threw light on his novel The Red Sari published in 2008, a fictionalised story of the prominent Indian political family, the Nehru -Gandhi through the eyes of Italian-born Sonia Maino ( Sonia Gandhi) who became president of the Indian National Congress in 1998. The writer shared with the audience the reaction he faced after the publication of the novel in India and that it was about to be banned. The novel turned out to be a bestseller in Europe. The novel was considered a controversial book in India; however a mini-series based on it was in the offing. Moro said that he also intended to write a novel on Benazir Bhutto but it was still to be done.

The writer also discussed his novel, You Are The Empire, published in 2011 a book about Brazil’s first emperor and the making of the Brazilian nation. The writer also showed on screen interesting and of great historical significance photographs of Punjab before the Partition.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2023