Andrew Lycett in Conversation with Nirupama Dutt at British Council Library

Kulbir Kalsi,,
INVC,,
Chandigarh,,
Acclaimed biographer Andrew Lycett talked about his work today at British Council Library, which includes lives of notable authors such as Rudyard Kipling (The Jungle Books and Kim), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) and Ian Fleming (James Bond). The practice of biography is going through many changes at the moment, as a result of competition from different media. In conversation with Nirupama Dutt he discussed about the ways that biographers have to raise their game in order to retain their readers’interest in the age of Twitter and social media. “People’s attention spans are getting smaller,’ said Mr Lycett. ‘So biographers need to be able to say something really interesting in order to engage their readers.’ ‘Biographers are now taking different approaches. They are writing slices of people’s lives, they are doing group biographies. ‘However I remain convinced the biography is great form of literature. Nothing can beat pulling together someone’s life with the historical background.’ His latest book, to be published this year, is a life of the Victorian sensation novelist Wilkie Collins.