Creole stories

A thinnai in India is similar to a porch i USA or a stoep in South Africa – a covered veranda without railings in front of the house, open to the world and to guests. In the novel Thinnai (translated from French by Synneve Sundby) by Ari Gautier we meet old war veterans, Creoles, workers and proud communists – everyone meets on the thinnai. They come to listen to stories.

Thinnai is a novel about roots, traditions, language and a family from Puducherry in India – a mixture if Tamil, French and Portuguese history and tradition. Ari Gautier has roots in Puducherry himself, but currently lives in Norway.

Gautier meets Anne K. Bang for a conversation about the Creole, migration and what you always carry with you from your family background.