Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
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 …
Tell us about your novel, Beautiful Place and what inspired you to write it? Beautiful Place is set in a villa by a remote beach on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, and follows the lives of its owners, their friends and the guests who arrive to stay as the villa opens as a guesthouse. …
by Alia Raffia It was during a family trip to the magical city of Lahore aged fourteen that I fell in love with Mughal art. My brother and I went on adventures together and visited places like Lahore Fort, Shalimar Gardens and Wazir Khan Mosque as well as the streets of the old city. The …
When did you have the initial idea for Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line? When I was working as a reporter in India, I came across stories of real-life disappearances of children; that was the initial spark for the novel. I was writing on education and human rights, as part of which I often interviewed …
The cover A Summary The Cure For a Crime is about the twins, Ali and Tulip, whose Mum has got a strange new boyfriend, Brian Sturgeon the Brain Surgeon. Suddenly Mum falls ill, a fever maybe? No, it is a strange new virus and Brian Sturgeon is No.1 on the twins’ suspect list. Oh no, …
The Salam Award for Imaginative Fiction, a short story award which promotes science fiction and related genres is now open for entries. Now in its fourth year the prize aims to encourage and inspire writers from Pakistan to unleash their creative potential. The scope of the prize is broad and encompasses everything from science fiction …