In Conversation With Sougand Akbarian

About Sougand:

Sougand Akbarian is an Iranian bestselling translator of Indian literature into Farsi (Persian). She is well known for her bestselling travelogue ‘SouganDilli’, which is based on her Delhi travel. Sougand is also a researcher and scholar in Translation and Cultural Studies. She has been a speaker at TEDx program that was held in Dubai. She has also presented and published her papers and articles at national and international conferences held in Iran and India. She is the CEO and Founder of Sougand Akbarian Publications in Iran. Sougand is currently based in Iran. She has completed her Master’s in English Language, Translation Studies. You can reach out to her on Facebook @Sougand.Akbarian, Instagram handle @Sougand_Akbarian, Twitter @SougandAkbarian, or write to her at Sougand_Akbarian@yahoo.com

LiFT: Tell us about your book, the journey of writing it and its content.

Sougand: Loveless Love, a reason to stay or leave forever is a book that is based on the true love story of one of my dear readers. A dear reader that after reading my debut and bestselling novel, SouganDilli, reached me and narrated her story and I found it todays’ story, so I kept the main story, and the real names and characters all are kept secret to the loyalty of the narrator.
Everyone has a story, a special love story with its own happy or sad ending. Similarly, I also had a story that brought me to a point where I had to stay or leave forever.
I don’t know if it was fortunate or unfortunate, but I really wanted to experience this type of love in my life… the love that got its birth seed via technology.
This is a story that can be similar to yours in one or many aspects. This is a story of young individuals like me who remain busy in their professional life, but always wish to find the perfect balance in their personal, professional, and love life. We, the busy bees always want to know how and when to keep moving on or give a pause to our life.
I chose to write this story for you, for me and everyone who is just like us and I am sure you would cherish every moment of my life while reading my story ‘The Loveless Love’.

When my own shadow will leave me,
In the dark and sad moments,
Then why should I expect from you,
To stay with me forever!

LiFT: Why you chose this title?

Sougand: Loveless Love, has an ambiguity within that, if it is love then why loveless!
This is the story of love, the essence of life, when Love, a reason to stay or to leave forever!
This time I called it, Loveless Love…

LiFT: When did you realize that you want to be a writer/poet and what’s your inspiration behind it?

Sougand: My story as an author was stated by SouganDilli and that made me an international and Iranian author in India and the world. So, by readers’ love and support, I wrote my second book, Loveless Love.
The author’s inspiration besides lovely and supportive family then is the dear readers.
From here I want to say thanks to my dear family, especially my dear mom and dear dad because they support me always unlimitedly. My dear Indian publisher, Damick Publications because Ck bhai ji believes my writing and my dear readers as they read my books and give their reviews.

LiFT: Where do you see yourself ten years down the line in the world of literature?

Sougand: I like to learn more in the world of books, write more books, translate more books from Indian literature by Indian authors, and also publishing books for dear readers as a publisher because a book is a best friend forever. I hope I can see myself in a place that most of my dreams and wishes come true as a translator, an author, and a publisher, and also I hope I can make a deep connection between my passions that is translating and writing, and traveling, publishing.

LiFT: How much do you think marketing or quality of a book is necessary to promote a particular book and increase its readers?

Sougand: Undoubtedly the first thing that readers come to know about a paperback book is its quality that a good quality is one of the first factors to catch readers’ eyes to decide to buy the book. Secondly, these days we all are searching for things, anything on the internet and social media, so these days digital marketing and keeping in touch with our readers in social media is really important to let others know about our book and have a word with our readers.

LiFT: What is the message you want to spread among folks with your writings?

Sougand: I always like to talk about today’s life, interestingly. My main message is, be modern with your previous roots. So that is why in my books, in SouganDilli and this time especially in Loveless Love, I talked about love in the young generation and modern society, that to feel the real meaning of loving and to be loved. Love is the essence of life so that is why I like to talk about this essential essence with my dear readers, interestingly.

LiFT: What do you do apart from writing?

Sougand: Apart from being an Iranian and International author in English in India and globally, in my beautiful motherland, Iran, I am a bestselling translator of Indian literature and also a publisher. So, I can say I am into the world of books. Besides that, learning new languages is my passion.

LiFT: What are the activities you resort to when you face a writer’s block?

Sougand: Author’s block is a short-term feeling when you need to give yourself, me time with a cup of dark coffee and a piece of great music to reenergize yourself. Then your mind will get free and you can think as you want, do as you want and write as you want, without any blockage!

LiFT: What if your story will be adopted as a movie? Whom would you want to work as a director or actors in it?

Sougand: The authors’ dream after a book got published is to see that as a movie. So, for Loveless Love as a movie, I can say, for Saughanha character, I like to see Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Sushmita Sen, or Sara Ali khan. For Sanjay character, my choice is Sunil Shetty or Abhimanyu Dasani, for Siddharth character I say, Akshay Kumar, Vicky Kaushal, or Siddhartha Malhotra, and for Shalini character, Nushrat Bharucha.
Then about directors, Dharmesh Darshan or Pushpdeep Bhardwaj are great ones for Loveless Love.
Did you notice, somehow, I gather Dhadkan team again together in 2021!

LiFT: Are you working on your next book? If yes, please tell us something about it.

Sougand: An author always has so many ideas to make them a book, so yes! I am working on a new series of Indo-Iranian stories again… because my readers like my first Indo-Iranian story, SouganDilli.
So again an interesting, an Indo-Iranian Kahani (story) between Iran and India with the essence of life essentialities, an unforgettable Indo-Iranian story.

LiFT: What are your suggestions to the budding writers/poets so that they could improve their writing skills?

Sougand: My suggestion is to read more and keep writing whatever you think about, then keep sharing your writing with an expert in that field to get proper feedback. That is the best way to improve with a guide of a correct person, and from here wishing all dear budding writers, all the best. Believe yourself!

Click here to get Sougand’s Book from Amazon

 

 

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