Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
Set in 1887, the year of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, Tanika Gupta’s The Empress tells the story of the sixteen-year-old Rani Das, ayah (nursemaid) to an English family, who arrives at Tilbury docks after a long voyage from India, to start a new life in Britain. On the boat, Rani befriends a lascar (sailor), an …
The London edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival makes its return this month for an inspiring weekend of words, books, music, food and camaraderie (10-11 June). From ‘Bollywood Narratives’ to ‘Letters to a Writer of Colour’, from ‘The Double to Diaspora’ to ‘Brown Speak’, the 10th year of JLF in London features a packed programme …
A new festival is putting Panjabi and Pahari-Pothwari voices centre stage. JAAG: Panjabi and Pahari-Pothwari Language and Literature Festival takes place in Birmingham next week (Saturday 13 May). The event, organised by the Jaag Collective, will see nearly 40 artists coming together for a jam-packed day of events featuring talks, workshops, discussions and performances. Artists taking …
Aftermath by Preti Taneja has been named the winner of the tenth annual Gordon Burn Prize at Durham Book Festival (13 October). Taneja’s second book Aftermath strives to make sense of the London Bridge terror attack in 2019. Usman Khan was a convicted terrorist who spent eight years in prison and went on to kill …
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka has been named winner of the Booker Prize 2022 (17 October). The author was presented with his trophy by Her Majesty the Queen Consort in a new-look ceremony held at the Roundhouse. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, published by the independent press Sort of Books, …
Norman Erikson Pasaribu can light up a room. I remember first meeting him in my hometown of Leicesster where he was – at the time – on tour with the British Council, having been touted as a young Indonesian writer to watch. I was sad not to be able to attend the session he delivered …
In this exclusive feature for The Asian Writer, Selma Carvalho and Reshma Ruia discuss Ruia’s latest novel Still Lives which explores, with complexity and nuance, a life in crisis. SC: The protagonist of Still Lives, PK Malik is a first-generation Indian immigrant, trapped between modernity and tradition, between desire and restraint, between personal fulfilment and …
With the help of social media and the internet, aspiring writers have a new avenue to share their stories and make themselves known to audiences and publishers. Many successful authors today actually started their writing careers online. Bestselling book authors like E.L. James and Anna Todd wrote their first published books as fanfictions online. Meanwhile, Lang …
Finding Home marks the 50th anniversary of the Ugandan Asian exodus. In August 1972, Ugandan President Idi Amin ordered the country’s Indian and Pakistani communities to leave within 90 days. Many of the displaced were British citizens and, as a result, around 27,000 people emigrated to the UK, with thousands settling in Leicester. Finding Home features three new …
Tomb of Sand, written by Geetanjali Shree and translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, was announced as the winner of the 2022 International Booker Prize last week (26 May). Tomb of Sand is the first book in any Indian language to win the prize, and the first novel translated from Hindi to be recognised by …