A book of ideas

Australian Author Inez Baranay connects history with fiction in this novel

By Ranjani Govind

photos : Atta Galatta 

photos are from Bangalore Writers workshop,

Bhumika Anand in conversation with Australian author Inez Baranay at Atta Galatta during the release of the book, ‘Soul Climate’

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“Soul Climate touches the soul, the author is so straight forward in her reading about India. I wish such serious writers like Inez Baranay visited colleges in Bengaluru and addressed growing minds, ” commented young literature student Akanksha Hegde after the inspiring book talk at the Bengaluru-launch of ‘Soul Climate’ author Inez Baranay’s latest book (brought out by Speaking Tiger Books) at the Atta Galatta recently in the city.

In conversation with Inez Baranay was the founder and director of the Bangalore Writers workshop, Bhumika Anand, who showing the book said, “I enjoyed reading every page, more than plot or characterization, this is a book of ideas.”

Referring to the engaging matter with narratives, Bhumika said the book showcases how one feels growing up in a colonized country, and how important it is to understand post -colonial climate.

The academic material with copious research in ‘Soul Climate’ negotiates on human identity and the conflicts we go through. It is amazing to course through the substantial material as India is discovered through its people, multi-layered fictional and biographical  accounts.

Australian novelist Inez Baranay, down to earth and modest, has published

over a dozen books of fiction and non-fiction, as well as many short stories and essays. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from Griffith University. (www.inezbaranay.com)

Inez has lectured on writing issues and taught creative writing in universities, schools and community groups in Australia, India, USA and Europe. She has given many readings and talks, been a guest at conferences, 

seminars and literature festivals, and been a resident at various international writers’ centres.

In ‘Soul Climate’ Inez fortunately  notices an existing historical link between India and Turkey, two countries she is closely connected with. This is the seed that sprouts into a fantastic ‘novel tree.’

Inez Baranay spoke in an exclusive interview about her initial years that shaped her writing, her books and about the ‘soul’ brought into ‘Soul Climate’.

Some excerpts….

* Where were you born and brought up; and what was the seed of

literature interest sown in you that later sprouted to see a larger world soaked

in writing?

 I was born in Italy, where my Hungarian parents met and married; they were

displaced people after the Second World War, and as refugees we came to Australia when I was a baby. I grew up in several Australian towns and Sydney suburbs. In mid-1960s my father got a posting to Penang, Malaya (not yet Malaysia), where I did school by correspondence. Seen from today it seems my early life and this early residence in an Asian country influenced, or enhanced, my essential sense of foreignness, and essential curiosity about the wider world. And love of spicy food 🙂 This was also developed by my love of reading from early childhood; I have always read as much as I could and as widely as possible.

* Out of the near dozen books of yours published, what seems dear to you,

and why?

During its writing each book becomes the meaning of my life and is nurtured with times of difficulty and times of joy. Each book changes my life, my self, in some way. Thus they are all dear to me. I could mention ‘Neem Dreams,’ set in the mid 1990s, first published in India in 2003 (available in new editions) which might have changed my life more than any other, as it took years of research, during which, besides doing masses of reading, I went to several places in India, many new to me:

cities, towns and villages, meeting activists, scientists, NGOs, academics and

students, politicians, writers, journalists, publishers; often staying in small rooms and going on local buses.

I became connected with the University of Madras, spending a semester as writer-in-residence (2000–2001), and returned for conferences and

seminars. The fictional characters— Indian, English, Australian, American—, connected by the issue of the neem tree, the ancient knowledge of its many uses, and the new attempts to exploit it, expanded my ability to enter the inner life of people unlike me.

In 2002 through an arts residency in Delhi I met the publisher who

accepted ‘Neem Dreams.’ It felt immensely rewarding that the book was published in India, and received such a positive reception from critics and readers here. During its development I made friends I still have, and found that many of the book’s themes are still playing out in the present.

* Coming to ‘Soul Climate’ – how long did you take to complete this genre-

bending book, part fiction, part biography with amazing research? Can you elaborate?

I was living and teaching in Turkey for a few years and wondered what connection there might be with India when in 2015, I was told about the historical person Halide Edib, an outstanding Turkish freedom fighter and writer, who visited Delhi in 1935, and wrote a lovely book about it (Inside India, 1936). She was hosted by prominent freedom fighter Dr M.A. Ansari, and met leading figures in the Independence Movement, including Mahatma Gandhi, with whom she spent a lot of time.  I began to read all I could about her and by her. But meanwhile I completed another novel, moved back to Australia, and wrote a biography. Then at last I could focus only on what would become Soul Climate: the title comes from Halide Edib 

saying India was closer to her “soul climate” than any country not her own. Besides extensive reading, and useful podcasts, I made a research trip to Delhi in 2023 (which became part of the material of the book). Intensive work with writing retreats in India and Australia enabled me to finish the work. And soon enough, ‘Soul Climate’ was placed with 

Speaking Tiger publisher (Delhi) and came out in late 2025, making it ten years since I knew I’d write something based on Halide Edib’s trip to India.

* Tell us about the three fictional girls and their characterizations brought out, I would consider these inclusions as part of the mysteries and knack of fiction writing!!

I knew that the novel needed a fictional element to arrive at its own real truth, and I see it as the emotional heart of the novel. In the mysterious way that fiction is made the three cousins appeared, as if they had always been there: young women of twenty, already life-long friends, close to Dr Ansari, making decisions about the directions of their lives, and listening closely to the series of lectures given by Halide Edib (who is not quite fictionalised).

Only by keeping on writing I discovered more about them until I knew all I could know.  

Privileged and well-educated, at home in a cosmopolitan milieu, they are all of course devoted 

to the nationalist cause but each is finding her own way to be part of that.

Nuran discovers the direction of her ambition on a trip to Paris and is also about to be betrothed to a devoted follower of Gandhi. Zoya discovers a means to peace in her troubled life and the possibility of a new Indian art being another way to express national as well as personal independence.

Aisha is resolved to become a lawyer in the new nation soon to be born. They all grapple with questions of duty, loyalty, connection, all are idealistic and optimistic, and cannot know, as the reader does, what difficulties and disappointments inevitably lie ahead.

* What surprised me the most is having included Ramana Maharishi in the book, how did this thread of thought come in?

I had known about Ramana for some time and years ago spent a few times at the ashram in Tiruvannamalai. A decades-later version of him appears in my novel ‘With the Tiger’ (2008) which was based on Somerset Maugham’s 1944 novel, The Razor’s Edge; Maugham had met Ramana on his trip to India and was inspired to make his character’s quest for meaning satisfied by a holy man based on him. I followed suit, with my own readings and visits adding to the mysterious mix from which fiction is made. I returned to the early writings about Ramana for ‘Soul Climate’ now in the service of quite a different character.