Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
Earlier this year, Cultural eXchanges Festival welcomed authors Nikesh Shukla and Mahsuda Snaith for an in conversation event. Held in association with The Asian Writer, the evening took place at De Montfort University Leicester and explored Nikesh’s phenomenal rise, from early life as an amateur rapper to editor of best-selling collection of essays, The Good …
Last month highly acclaimed writer Nikesh Shukla addressed an audience at De Montfort University Leicester as part of their annual student-led Cultural Exchanges festival (27 February 2019). Held in association with The Asian Writer, the evening led by fellow writer Mahsuda Snaith (author of The Things We Thought We Knew) saw Nikesh discuss writing, rapping, …
It’s Not About the Burqa is presented as a collection of essays on ‘faith, feminism, sexuality and race’ and it is a lot more than that too. Mariam Khan has created a space for Muslim women to unapologetically share their first hand experiences of life under labels and misconceptions created by non-Muslims – and unfortunately …
Q. Can you start by telling us a bit about Things my Mother Told Me? What is the main story line? And what inspired the novel? A decade ago, I broke up with a boyfriend who had an affair with a burlesque dancer, and I started to write this story. Except I realised there was …
Mohammad Hanif’s third novel, Red Birds, opens on familiar ground; as we explore the wreckage of a smouldering plane, 10 years after General Zia met his end in one, Major Ellie emerges. A man on a mission (if only to avoid the monotony of housework), he finds himself in the very ‘enemy camp’ he had …
It’s that time of year when self-help books promising to help us get fit, get healthy, be happy dominate the bestseller lists and we’re bombarded by ‘New Year, New You’ slogans leaving us feeling short changed; pondering a life that might have been if only we’d been brave enough to take a leap. The truth …
This is a great collection filled with moments of real tenderness and surprise. A servant eavesdrops on her mistress’s unfolding affair with a cousin. A parrot speaks the words of a wife’s dead husband like he named her loss. A grandmother comes to terms with her granddaughter’s pregnancy. Bhattacharya’s characters span the globe, from Venice …
We’re book-ending our tenth birthday with an all-day festival on Saturday October 20th 2018 at The Wesley in London. The Asian Writer will once again bring together the contents of its website – interviews, masterclasses and features on literary trends – in a live format. The festival aims to support and encourage writers, by offering advice and inspiration …
Short stories are meant to be read as just that – a solitary, self-contained story. Something one can pick up without much commitment, a quick rendezvous in the backseat of a cab, a snack between meals. Which is why, when reading the selection of tales featured in The Best Asian Short Stories, it was a …
I’ve wanted to write a novel since I was 16. Even though teachers and lecturers knew I could write well, none ever suggested writing as a possible career. Perhaps being Asian, from a single parent, working class background, they thought the possibility of me being a writer was a bit far fetched? There weren’t any …