Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
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 …
Asma Khan’s latest cookery book, Ammu is a delightful collection of childhood recipes that celebrates the power of home cooking and the inextricable link between food and love. Published by Ebury, the book features more than 100 recipes alongside a wonderful memoir which captures Khan’s childhood and the woman who taught her how to cook, …
The characters in your short story collection Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness come from widely ranging backgrounds and ethnicities. Was it difficult to make this leap of imagination or do you engage in research? The characters in Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness reflect the world we live in- in all its fractured yet glorious technicolour …
Why did you enter the Creative Future Writers’ Awards? I have been on a strange journey with writing and life up until this moment… After ten years of working on a novel, I decided I needed to start sending my work out… I didn’t know any writer people, and wasn’t part of a writer group, …
The Mismatch by Sara Jafari is relatable, honest and romantic. One family, two women and a secret that threatens to ruin them both. Don’t be deceived by the premise, Jafari’s debut delivers much more than simple romance. Soraya is a twenty-one-year-old graduate trying to navigate between her conservative Iranian upbringing and the western freedoms she …
Every year we host students from the University of Leicester for a 10-week placement. The scheme run by the university provides students with an opportunity to gain work experience in a small press to enhance their learning. Students often work remotely and are supported by editor Farhana Shaikh to pursue a personal project – something …
In the kitchen, Maya and the three under-chefs were busy with the night’s dinner. The smell of fried onions, garlic and ginger filled the air, and the sounds of sizzling and percussive tin lids created a hypnotic rhythm as heaps of aromatic spices were tossed into the pots – orange turmeric, yellow heeng, red chilli …
by Catherine Coe I’ve been a children’s book editor for twenty years, and a freelancer for the last ten. As well as working for publishers and literary agents, I have many clients who are writers – usually those who are yet to be published and agented, helping them to develop their craft and evolve their …
26th March 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the Bangladesh war, struggle and subsequent Independence. East London is home to a vibrant and dynamic British Bengali community who, with strong cultural and familial ties, were deeply impacted by these events. Against a backdrop of 1970s East End revolutionary spirit, many local people were vocal and active …
When the BBC televised its first episode of A Suitable Boy, I recalled reading it as a 15-year-old but retained nothing except the romantic angle (Saeeda-Maan, Lata-Kabir). So, I got out my dusty paperback from the shelf to see what I had missed and discovered so much more. Reading the story is like a mammoth …