ABSTRACT
Ananda Devi’s words from the interview that follows aptly describe her complex relationship with the country of her origin, India, that is also at the centre of a number of her works. Devi currently resides in Ferney-Voltaire, close to Geneva where she used to work as a translator before retiring in 2019. As Devi grew up listening to tales from the two Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, these stories became an integral part of her life and influenced her writing in both content and form. Devi’s work is being recognised at an international level with numerous awards such as the Certificat d’Honneur Maurice Cagnon conferred by the Conseil International d’Études Francophones (CIEF) at their annual meeting in French Guyana in 2007. All too often, violence, be it psychological or physical, seems to be the choice, even if it weighs against the twin pressures of morality and conscience.
