In The Sun Waker, Adi Goyal explores subjects like medical science and living with terminal diseases with positivity and upliftment. Mandayam Thirunarayanan interviews the author. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Q: What does the title of your book “The Sun Waker” mean?
A: Sun Waker is about three different lead characters, each with a life-threatening disease. Given the severity and the progressive nature of their disease, they have limited time to live unless they find a way to treat it. So, the book’s title comes from the fact that each one is fighting to live another day.
Each day starts with the sun rising in the sky, and the protagonists are trying to figure out how to treat themselves and create a new day for themselves. This battle with life itself and the magnitude of their situation is what the title captures i.e. anyone who can move the sun, even figuratively, is accomplishing a herculean task.
Q: What motivated you to write the book?
A: It had always been a dream of mine to write and publish a book, ever since I began writing stories at the age of 12. I also have a keen love for science and health, so I wanted to combine those with my love for writing in a way that positively transformed people’s lives. Communicating science engagingly and memorably was an additional challenge that attracted me to this endeavor.
When I was researching the different diseases being covered in the book and conducting interviews, I realized how little I (and many others) knew about what it was like to have these diseases and to be a loved one caring for someone else going through those diseases. I felt it was important to share these experiences with others, to build awareness while also offering pathways for hope.
Q: Can you share an overview of your book?
The three diseases dealt with in the story are cancer, heart disease, and sickle-cell anemia. While the book aims to highlight the solutions that these characters discover and implement in their journey, it also shows how these characters must grow personally to overcome their challenges. So, in the process, the characters also become better people.
One recurring theme in the book is empathy, and just how important that is in all aspects of our lives, particularly when we work with others. So I hope that, while reading the book, readers also become more empathetic in their own lives.
Q: How did your Indian heritage influence your writing?
Excellent question. I was born in the US. However, I feel privileged and grateful to have been born to parents who came from India. We have a wonderful culture, a treasure trove of philosophies, and some of the most amazing and beautiful art, music, dance, films, books, temples, food, clothing, festivals, and more. A lot of who I am and what I do, both personally and professionally, comes from having grown up in a family where I was exposed to Indian culture.
I grew up loving and reading ancient mythological stories like the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the delightful stories in the world of Amar Chitra Katha. I also grew up enjoying Indian films, particularly those from the Hindi film industry like “Sholay”, “Deewar”, “Lagaan”, and many others. Our films are diverse and rich in their story-telling, combining song, dance, music, romance, action, comedy, drama, tragedy, style, and more. So there was a definite influence in this regard. Even though “The Sun Waker” covers serious topics like diseases, I aimed to keep the tone hopeful, optimistic, and uplifting. I believe that people want to be uplifted, inspired, and positively energized while being entertained.
The other influences came from my parents, friends, and family. My mother had trained to be a doctor; through her, I learned much about health and diseases. My dad is an engineer and works in the software industry; through him and his friends, I’ve had a constant connection and exposure to the world of technology. Whatever love I have for science and technology can be traced to my family background; my paternal grandfather taught mathematics, and my maternal grandfather was a chemical research scientist. So, in this way, it seems that my love for science and technology was natural and reflected in my writing.
Q: Why should people read your book?
Many things went into the writing of “The Sun Waker”. In addition to entertaining and uplifting, I want to book to inspire, educate, and change people’s perspectives, make them laugh, and excite them. If people want to learn about some of the latest advances in medicine, while also enjoying a good story, then perhaps my book might interest them. The objective of the book is to communicate topics within science and technology in a way that’s engaging, and I hope that people find that within its pages when they read it.
Q: Do you enjoy visiting India?
A: I’ve been visiting India every few years or so since I was a young child. It’s always been a pleasure to see, smell, listen, and experience India every time I visit. Even though life is very different from here in the US, it’s that difference I’ve come to appreciate, the ability to feel very deeply connected and inspired by two seemingly disparate and contrasting worlds, yet feel seamlessly in touch with both.
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring young Indian writers of the diaspora?
I don’t know how much advice I can give, but there are some things that I feel are important and strongly believe in. One of those things is to keep pursuing your interests, curiosities, the things that give you joy, and the things that you love. so, applied to writers, if you enjoy writing, then keep writing. And if you need to do it on the side because you’re a full-time student or working a full-time job, so be it. Even five minutes a day of writing is better than nothing, and if you enjoy those five minutes, then it will be well worth it. Eventually, you will know whether you love writing (or any other field or craft) so much that you will want to move on from whatever you’re doing and take a calculated risk to pursue it full-time. Keep honing your craft, and keep aiming to positively impact as many people as you can with your craft.