"Brahms Comes to Dinner": Interview with Author Boman Desai

I was honoured to record this interview with Boman Desai, whose wonderful recent novel “Brahms Comes to Dinner” I highly recommend. You’ll hear how this work came out of Boman’s larger novel “Trio” and he shared stories about several of his other acclaimed novels including “The Memory of Elephants”, “Portrait of a Woman Madly in Love” and his book about the Lennon-McCartney Beatles songs “Dancing About Architecture”. Some of Boman’s writing comes from his Parsi family history and the life of his grandmother, and you’ll hear about several life-changing moments including with the legendary editor and writer Diana Athill.

You can also watch the video on my YouTube and I’ve also linked the transcript. Have a look at the show notes of this episode on my website, where you’ll find all the links

I've also linked suggested episodes with Martha Anne Toll, Heather Taves, Michael Stephen Brown, Thomas Cabaniss, Yale Strom, Gabriel Kahane, Scott Nygaard among so many episodes since 2021.

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All the links!

(00:00) Intro

(02:08) Brahms, Clara and Robert Schumann

(18:28) excerpt from “Brahms Comes to Dinner”, research letters, diaries

(31:21) excerpt from “Trio” Robert and Clara Schumann

(35:26) Boman’s musical memories from childhood in India, Tovey writing about music

(42:27) Parsi community, Diana Athill

(45:24) other linked episodes and supporting this podcast