Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
CG Menon’s debut collection Subjunctive Moods, is published by Dahlia Press and the predominant mood of it could be what the last story “Rock pools,” poetically describes as ‘our throbbing darkness and our gleeful knowledge of what we lack.’ The characters in this collection have been analysed with almost mathematical precision, to pinpoint and expose …
Early on in my writing career I attempted to write a police procedural featuring a lead character that was British Asian. Scouring the shelves of bookshops, I thought I had discovered a gap in the market. What hadn’t occurred to me at the time was that the reason I saw no such characters on the …
It is universally acknowledged that it is important for children to see themselves reflected in the books they read. It is also important for children to read about other cultures, backgrounds, and communities. It promotes understanding, tolerance, acceptance and empathy. We all know this. Dr. Melanie Ramdarshan Bold’s study, reported by Alison Flood in the …
I first had the pleasure of reading Priya Sharma’s work when I was a judge for the British Fantasy Awards in 2016, where she won Best short story for her tale “Fabulous Beasts” and I’ve been hooked ever since. So it was with bated breath that I waited for my copy of her debut collection …
Dr Rangan Chatterjee never set out to write a book but following his hit TV show, Doctor in the House, he had significant interest from publishers. The 4 Pillar Plan is Dr Chatterjee’s blueprint for how to live well in the modern world. It divides health into four pillars; diet, sleep, movement and relaxation. Dr …
It was Sumayya Usmani’s longing for home that led her to start a memoir-based food blog. At the time, she was working as a full-time lawyer, missing Pakistan and the food that she grew up with. She noticed that no-one was representing Pakistani cuisine, or what made it distinctive from its neighbours. Usmani began writing …
When did you decide that this story needed to be written? There are two moments that are crucial: there was one point within my marriage when I knew that I had to write out what I was living through because it seemed so improbable, incredible and horrendous and above all, frightening. I knew that to …
Following a whirlwind romance with a Yorkshire man, Shreya Sen-Handley left a successful career as a TV producer in India, to start a new life in Sheffield. Soon she discovered that life and love was not all that it appeared to be. Her new husband was violent and controlling, and deeply in debt. The chance …
Q. Tell us more about your novel, Dark Chapter It’s about a crime, and the two people who are connected by that crime: the victim and the perpetrator. They are complete strangers, and their lives intersect almost by random during that act of violence. So I explore their individual lives before that event, you see the …
Firstly congratulations on being the most influential woman in Manchester. What does this achievement mean to you and how you would you like to continue the rich cultural heritage that Manchester is so well known for, through your work? Thank you for your warm wishes- much appreciated! To be honest I was bemused to learn …