Journalism and Authorship: Writing facts with flair

By Prithvi Abhay Shankaregowda

Literary enthusiasts of Bennett University gained insights on creative writing and its role in journalism by eminent journalist and author Prachi Gupta, in a session on day 2 of the literary fest Aalekh 2024.

The fest by Bennett University’s literary and debating society, Cerebrum hosted Gupta as a part of its Author Discussion series, where she focused on navigating between fact and fiction, “In journalism, you stick to the facts and can’t use your creativity or flair while writing. But in fiction, everything feels like a movie. That is why, I think I like writing fiction more,” she said.


She shared that when it comes to soft news stories, she can use the elements of creative writing which is not possible in the case of political stories. Gupta talked about her journey, from aiming to be a journalist and accidentally becoming an author, “I did B-tech but became a journalist. I was always exposed to really heavy news but I never wanted to write hard-core news like politics. I love fashion and entertainment, I wanted to write meaningful stories in the same. But then, I started preparing for UPSE and the book I wrote when I was in college became a bestseller which made me pursue my career as an author too.”


After an exceptional career as a journalist, Prachi Gupta broke the barriers in the literary world with four best-selling books and started a publishing house for aspiring authors. “Prachi ma’am is an amazing author, I loved her book. Listening to her story about self publishing her book and navigating the media industry is really inspiring,” core team member of Cerebrum, Kamalika Chatterjee said.