A West London-based author and artist will be giving a talk for National Library Day at Westminster Reference Library on Saturday February 8.

Balraj Khanna, who lives near Lord's Cricket Ground and refers to it as his “spiritual home”, has written four novels, but that doesn't mean he's just been sitting around.

He was born in the Punjab, and studied for an English Masters in India before coming to England in 1962 with the intention of studying at Oxford. Unfortunately, just as Balraj arrived in England, war broke out between India and China, and the Indian government, now having to finance a war, withdrew all foreign exchange support, including the funding for Balraj's Oxford studies.

By the time other funds were found for his studies, the enrolment window had passed, and Balraj found himself with a year to fill before he could attempt to enrol again. To pass the time, he took up his old hobby of painting, and, in his own words, was “reborn” in England.

“I started to get noticed by other artists,” said Balraj. “And when a year had passed, they said to me 'Forget university – you are an artist'. So I stayed in London.”

Staying in London certainly seems to have been a good call for Balraj, who has achieved great success as an artist, even curating multiple art exhibitions over the years. One painting even attracted attention worthy of a book of its own:

“In the 80s, I was commissioned to paint a picture of where I lived, and I chose the 'Lord's Cricket Ground'. I called the painting 'The Real Centre of the Universe' and it was donated to the St John's Wood. Then in 2001, someone stole it! It was a huge painting, I don't know how they managed it. However, a few years ago, I received an email from a woman who said that she had bought a painting of mine in a shop, but couldn't find a lot of information on it, and would I be willing to tell her about my painting. And when she described it, I realised it was the stolen painting!

"I called the police, they tracked down the people who had sold it, and it was returned to its rightful place at the hospital.”

Although he has written several non-fiction books on art, one of his first and best known books is “Nation of Fools”, published in 1984. The book was an exercise for Balraj to re-establish roots to his culture, having lived in England for two decades at that point. “The funny thing was, a lot of my friends in India were offended by the title, Nation of Fools, yet it received some of its best reviews from India, so clearly people didn't mind too much.”

In 1999, Nation of Fools was chosen as one of the top 200 books since 1950, but Balraj nearly missed the announcement. “A friend, who was a literary critic, telephoned me one Saturday night, and asked 'Do you read the Telegraph?'. I joked 'Only when I'm in it.' He told me I needed to get that day's Telegraph, but it was 9.30 on a Saturday night, I didn't want to. He tried to convince me, and when he realised I wouldn't be moved, he phoned Francine [Balraj's French born wife who he describes as the “love of his life” - ed] and convinced her to drive me to the nearest shop.

"After some searching, we found a Telegraph and returned home, and I sat down to read it, expecting a half sentence with my name somewhere in an article. And in the middle was a section of the 200 Best Novels since 1950, and I decided to read it to see how many of the novels I had read, and then I turned the page and found Nation of Fools. Imagine my shock!”

Balraj's newest novel has only been out for a month, but just like Nation of Fools, the connection between author and subject is pretty clear. Indian Magic is the story of Ravi Mehra, a new arrival to England in the 60s who finds the country a lot less welcoming than he was expecting. When asked about the similarities between Ravi and Balraj's own experiences, Balraj is quick to explain that the book is not an autobiography, but many of the events of the book were inspired by events of his own life.

“England was very different to what I had seen so far. It was a lot of vastly different social experiences. It was both very exciting and very depressing. It wasn't that long after the war, and it was still quite a dark time for the country. But it was also the swinging 60s and a very naughty time!”

Indian Magic is a multi-purpose title for the story. Ravi's life starts looking up when he finds work as a dishwasher in the Indian Magic curry house, but Balraj says the title also refers to the Indian Magic that pulls Ravi through life.

“Both Ravi and I struggled when we first came to England.” said Balraj. “Work was hard to come by, and there were times when I considered just going home. But I felt convinced that I had a purpose, that there was a reason I was here.”

Balraj will be reading from Indian Magic and his previous novel, The Mists of Silma - both published by HopeRoad an e-publishing house specialising  in multicultural literature - at his National Library Day talk this Saturday at the Westminster Reference Library. He will also be discussing the relationship between his art and his writing. Tickets are free, but will need to be reserved in advance. Seats can be booked at Eventbrite.co.uk