OT Your books are set in Bangladesh, but you grew up mostly in the West. Do you shuttle between the two worlds very often
Tahmima Anam I travel to Bangladesh two or three times a year to visit family and friends. And I always gain a lot of inspiration for my writing when I&rsquom there, whether it&rsquos in the form of research or just soaking in the spirit of the place.
OT What deserves to be seen in your home country
Tahmima Anam Many things. Just outside Dhaka, for instance, the countryside is beautiful &mdash the hills of Chittagong, the Madhupur Forest, the mangroves.
OT Is there a journey you&rsquove made recently that you&rsquore tempted to weave into your next book
Tahmima Anam In January, my husband and I travelled to the Sundarbans. We took a boat from Khulna which went all the way down to the Bay of Bengal. It was absolutely stunning and I hope to set a scene there someday.
OT Has the success of your books meant whirlwind book tours Where have they taken you
Tahmima Anam I&rsquove been to some wonderful places, like Rome and Helsinki, on book tours. And some of the literary festivals are in stunning locations &mdash a few years ago, I went to Galle in southern Sri Lanka, which was amazing. But the most interesting place I&rsquove visited on account of my books was Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
OT Your last trip
Tahmima Anam I&rsquove just returned from Turin, in northern Italy, where I attended the Turin Book Fair.
OT Is there a holiday you have been longing to take
Tahmima Anam Yes. I&rsquove longed to travel to Japan, and this summer my husband and I plan to take a belated honeymoon there.
OT What do you bring back from your holidays
Tahmima Anam Always food From Iraq, I brought back mountain honey and wild sumac (a very sour, bright red spice that you can dust on kebabs &mdash delicious). And from Italy, I always bring back Burrata, which is a creamy version of mozzarella cheese.
OT Your favourite cuisine
Tahmima Anam Of course I love home-cooked Bengali fish curry. But I have a long-standing affection for the food of Thailand as I have spent several years there as a child.
OT What do you read when travelling
Tahmima Anam Usually I stock up a big stack of paperbacks to take on holiday with me. I&rsquom reading Great House by Nicole Krauss right now.
OT Your worst trip
Tahmima Anam Funnily enough, my biggest travel disaster was in the UK. I was trying to get to a literary festival in Cornwall one summer, and it had rained so much that the train tracks had flooded. It took several days for me to finally arrive
OT Three things you always pack&hellip
Tahmima Anam A paperback, a toothbrush and my notebook.
