Piu DasGupta: 'I’m a writer who always starts with a setting'
BY Emily Powter-Robinson
14th Mar 2024
Piu DasGupta studied on our three-month Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course in 2020. Her debut middle grade book Secrets of the Snakestone is out today with Nosy Crow and has recently featured as the Times Children’s Book of the Week!
We spoke to Piu about the setting that inspired her story, how she's celebrating publication day, and the best piece of advice she received while studying with us.
You studied on our three-month Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course in 2020. How did your time studying with us impact your writing journey?
The Curtis Brown Creative children’s fiction course had a big impact on my writing. When I did the course, I’d already written a children’s book which I had tried unsuccessfully to market to agents. Through the process of doing the classes, I realized my many mistakes – not least of which, failing to read widely in both past and contemporary children’s fiction! My path to publication essentially started with this course. It was here that I began to heave myself, finally, out of the rut of endless submission cycles into which I had fallen.
Many of our students find lifelong writing friends on our courses. Are you still in touch with anyone you met during the courses?
We had a group of committed writers on my course. Several have subsequently found success with agents, publishing deals, and other positions in the children’s book world. Two examples are Carrie Sellon, whose debut Pizza Pete & the Perilous Potions was shortlisted for the Guppy Middle Grade award and, like my book, was a Times Children’s Book of the Week. Also Lucy Mohan, whose spooky YA Wick Wood was shortlisted for the Firefly Welsh fiction competition (Lucy is now an editorial assistant at Firefly). Most of all, we critiqued each other’s work firmly but kindly. Although I no longer belong to a writing group, I’m still in touch with some of my course mates, in fact one (Rebecca Perkin) was a sensitivity reader for Secrets of the Snakestone.
Your debut middle grade book Secrets of the Snakestone is out today with Nosy Crow. It’s an adventure story which follows Zélie and Jules as they face a deadly race to solve a family mystery and a vicious crime that stretches from the jungles of Calcutta to the sewers of Paris. Can you tell us a bit more about the book and the inspiration behind it?
As a child in Kolkata, India, I was fascinated by gemstones. I had books about them and collected semi-precious stones which I painstakingly put in little drawers with labels! In later childhood we moved to the UK and I visited the Tower of London, where I goggled at the Crown Jewels. It was only afterwards that I discovered the stories attached to these legendary stones (mainly diamonds such as the Hope, Orlov and Koh-i-nor) – their journey from India to the West by theft, barter or smuggling, and the curse they allegedly bring to their owners. In Paris where I now live, I visited the Régent diamond in the French crown jewels at the Louvre, which was smuggled from India to Europe in someone’s shoe! A story came to me, of a magical stone stolen from India, which winds up on the streets of Paris…. and voilà, the tale of the Snakestone was born!
What’s the best piece of advice you received from your tutor Catherine Johnson during the three-month Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course?
I’m a writer who always starts with a setting: that’s the primary initial inspiration for my books. So in the case of Secrets of the Snakestone, it was a visit to the spooky Paris sewers and catacombs that triggered the story. This has the advantage that people have commented on the vividness of the settings in my writing; but also the disadvantage of a tendency sometimes to static, set pieces. Catherine Johnson identified this fault immediately. “Put your character into the action, not looking on!” was her constant reminder. Her key technique was to identify a headline “issue” for every writer on the course to correct.
Do you have any tips for the aspiring authors reading this who are thinking of applying to a writing course?
There are a lot of sharks out there. Writing courses can be very useful, but beware of wasting time and money. Investigate any writing course you’re considering thoroughly. Do they have a track record of alumni being published? Do you know someone who has been on it, and can give you the inside story? Most importantly, can you afford it? More expensive is NOT necessarily better. The Curtis Brown course was, for me, a combined birthday and anniversary gift.
What does your typical writing routine look like?
I write mainly at home. I’m lucky enough to live in central Paris, overlooking a busy street – which really helps with the isolation I think I would feel, if I was writing alone in a shed or something. I like to see the bustle of the people in cafés, the boulangerie, etc in the street below as I write. It helps me feel connected to the world on a subliminal level. I also like to be surrounded by books: my tiny office is stacked higgledy-piggledy with tomes! I feel that they are whispering to me in friendly solidarity, and that for this magical moment, I’m a part of this huge community of word-weavers stretching back through time.
How are you celebrating publication day?
I don’t think I’ll have a launch as I’m quite shy, and allergic to parties! I think I might celebrate with a glass of champagne and a steak frites in the café opposite my flat, with an open book on my lap….. Secrets of the Snakestone, of course!
Finally, what’s next for your writing journey?
I’ve completed a stand-alone middle grade, dark and Gothic, set in a different part of France and with a mythical and magical twist. I’m also working on a sequel to Secrets of the Snakestone.
We're delighted that Secrets of the Snakestone has been shortlisted for the 2025 Waterstones Children's Book Prize in the Younger Readers category!
Explore our courses dedicated to writing for younger readers here.