Shamika Shabnam has just finished her degree in English at University of Leicester. Whilst studying she was working on an e-placement at The Asian Writer. I tell her about Lifelines, an anthology of short stories written and edited by Bangladeshi women. She shakes her head. She hasn’t heard of it. I promise to bring a …
Reflection on A dialogue on British Asian writing un-conference
It’s not everyday that you enter a room filled with emerging British Asian writers so there was a certain anxiety and trepidation as I took my seat at the table at the recent un-conference hosted by Nicole Thiara of Nottingham Trent University and Kavita Bhanot, editor of Too Asian, Not Asian Enough. The agenda had …
One minute with David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang’s Obie Award-winning Pulitzer prize finalist play Yellow Face will run for four weeks in the purpose built brand new state-of-the-art theatre in North London. Designed by David Hughes’ Architects, the theatre opened its doors for the first time earlier this month . In Yellow Face, art imitates life to great and amusing effect in …
Sweta Srivastava Vikram
The Asian Writer caught up with poet extraordinaire, Sweta Vikram to talk about her latest collection, No Ocean Here
Ayad Akhtar
The Asian Writer talks to Ayad Akhtar on the eve of the opening night of his Pulitzer Prize winning debut play, Disgraced
The Blind Man’s Garden by Nadeem Aslam
by Shamika Shabnam “Every twelve-year-old boy pressed into battle by them, every ten-year-old girl forcibly married to mullah eight times her age, every man lashed, every woman beaten, every limb broken.” The Blind Man’s Garden is a heart-rending novel, unveiling the perilous conditions of post 9/11 Afghanistan. Jeo and Mikal, two friends …
Peter Hobbs
Q. You’re clearly not an Asian writer but what is it about South Asia, particularly Pakistan that inspired In the Orchard, the Swallows? Q. What are your personal experiences of Pakistan and why did you feel compelled to tell this story? What other experiences did you draw on to make the plot work? It’s hard …
Mohsin Hamid
The Asian Writer speaks to Mohsin Hamid about his books, self help and his Twitter etiquette.
Farah Ghuznavi on new writing from Bangladesh
The Asian Writer speaks to Farah Ghuznavi, editor of Lifelines: New Writing from Bangladesh
Jeet Thayil
Q. Narcopolis is an intoxicating read but a very different depiction of India than we are used to. Whose India, or which India were you hoping to reveal to readers? I was interested in revealing an India I rarely get to see in fiction. The kind of India I usually see is a place …