BALI RAI VISITS CITY OF LEICESTER COLLEGE

Bali Rai was born in Leicester in 1971 and attended Judgemeadow Community College .  He graduated with a degree in politics from Southbank University and after 5 years in London came back to Leicester with the dream of becoming the next Sue Townsend. Since then Bali has combined managing a bar with writing books that explore aspects of today's youth culture.  His first book “(un) ARRANGED Marriage” looks at alienation in Leicester's Punjabi culture: Then followed “The Crew”, a detective story, and “Rani and Sukh”, a love story.  , and many others. Bali's books deal with important and controversial issues in a direct and realistic way. Here are a few of Bali's tips from the workshops and talks he gave to years 8, 9 and 10 at City of Leicester College recently

• Take a basic story and add layers to it.
• Think about your story from the point of view of your readers.
• If people are angry, why are they angry?
• If you are writing a thriller, thrill.  If it's a horror story, horrify and if it's a comedy, make them laugh.
• See the situation through your characters' eyes and know that when you do this you leave bits of yourself in them.
• Be very careful when you have to get out of your own head and write about someone who is a completely different age from you, etc.

Bali's work takes him all over the world which makes him appreciate that Leicester is one of the most interesting cities anywhere. He spoke about rascism and said that he dislikes comments like “I'm proud to be black or I'm proud to be white” because nobody chooses the colour of their skin.  You should be proud of what you achieve and not your colour.  However he quickly added, “The minute I think that I am the best thing since sliced bread, then I am rubbish!”

Helen Pettman.

“Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.”
Groucho Marx (from www.balirai.co.uk )