Books

The inaugural Portobello Prize has been awarded to Samira Shackle for Karachi Vice.  A fresh and thrilling exploration of Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi Vice showcases an electrifying new voice in non-fiction. This glimpse of a city largely misrepresented and misunderstood is told with a clear sense of urgency and with a personal connection. It will …

Meena Kandasamy and Kamila Shamsie have both been shortlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize. Kandasamy’s second novel, When I Hit You is a heartbreaking and shocking account of a young woman living in a abusive marriage. Seduced by politics, poetry and an enduring dream of building a better world together, a young woman falls in love …

Preti Taneja’s debut novel, We That Are Young has been shortlisted for this year’s Desmond Elliot Prize. It is one of three novels that is in the running to win the £10,000 prize awarded and be named the best debut novel of the year. We That Are Young is an ambitious retelling of King Lear which explores the …

There’s a thin band of cream silhouetting the cranes that hover over the half-built office blocks in the city centre. I head home, below an arc of houses that will be bright as jewels when the sun comes up. At this time of the day, it’s beautiful; the river is still, and seagulls fall above …

Without going into detail, my second novel The Girl in the Broken Mirror was triggered by incidents in my childhood, by the patriarchal sense of entitlement that some men feel they possess, by the fact that in many communities’ men and boys think they are somehow better than women and girls and are treated differently. In …

We’re thrilled to announce this year’s winning stories of The Asian Writer Short Story Prize 2018. First prize – Formations by Mona Dash Second prize – Savour the Moment by Nilesha Chauvet Stories on this year’s shortlist include: Gulab Jaman by Hana Riaz Bed Blocker No. 10 by Selma Carvalho Beginnings and Endings by Sidra …

  Practical and potentially life-changing, The Four Pillar Plan is an inspiring and easy-to-follow guide to better health and happiness. Dr Rangan Chatterjee presents an easily accessible plan for taking control of your health and your life.Everyday health revolves around Dr Chatterjee’s four pillars: relaxation, food, sleep and movement. By making small, achievable changes in each …

Writers Nadeem Aslam and Meena Kandasamy have made the shortlist of the Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year. The prize, first awarded in March 2017, seeks to celebrate books by British Black, Asian, Ethnic Minority writers and provide an exciting snapshot of the incredible array of writers of colour in Britain today. The shortlist …

I’m coming into the year with relative optimism that publishers may have stumbled upon some literary gold but I’m also nervous to see such few debuts published by British Asian writers. It’s a strong year for non-fiction, with two books by Asian writers already hitting the best seller lists and more crime-series fiction from Vaseem …

Anuk Arudpragasam has been named the winner of the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2017 for his novel, The Story of a Brief Marriage at the Dhaka Lit Fest in Bangladesh. Told in meditative, nuanced and powerful prose, this shattering novel marks the arrival of an extraordinary new literary voice. In a glittering award ceremony, …