Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
Q. Let’s start with your Discoveries win. Tell me more about your writing journey up until that point and what shifted for you when you found out you’d won? It’s been a long old journey and when I reflect on the twists and turns it has taken, I am both humbled and hugely grateful to …
by Leila Rasheed Are you an aspiring children’s or young adult fiction writer? Could a year focused on completing a novel, with 1-1 mentoring, workshops and connections to agents and publishers, transform your writing life? If you think so, The Megaphone Writer Development scheme could be for you. I launched the scheme in 2016 because, …
by Saarah Ismail Growing up my bookshelves were filled with the likes of Jaqueline Wilson, Roald Dahl, Michael Morpurgo and John Green. It never once occurred to me that there was and should be a place for the names of people like me on the cover. The first time I came across a book by …
by Fatima Jaffry For South Asian Heritage Month immerse yourself in a literary journey of love. From romance to friendship, these books will leave you warm and fuzzy. So, grab a cup of chai and tuck in. Top pick Kartography by award winning author Kamila Shamsie holds a special place in my heart as it …
The London edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival makes its return this month for an inspiring weekend of words, books, music, food and camaraderie (10-11 June). From ‘Bollywood Narratives’ to ‘Letters to a Writer of Colour’, from ‘The Double to Diaspora’ to ‘Brown Speak’, the 10th year of JLF in London features a packed programme …
A new festival is putting Panjabi and Pahari-Pothwari voices centre stage. JAAG: Panjabi and Pahari-Pothwari Language and Literature Festival takes place in Birmingham next week (Saturday 13 May). The event, organised by the Jaag Collective, will see nearly 40 artists coming together for a jam-packed day of events featuring talks, workshops, discussions and performances. Artists taking …
Aftermath by Preti Taneja has been named the winner of the tenth annual Gordon Burn Prize at Durham Book Festival (13 October). Taneja’s second book Aftermath strives to make sense of the London Bridge terror attack in 2019. Usman Khan was a convicted terrorist who spent eight years in prison and went on to kill …
In this exclusive feature for The Asian Writer, Selma Carvalho and Reshma Ruia discuss Ruia’s latest novel Still Lives which explores, with complexity and nuance, a life in crisis. SC: The protagonist of Still Lives, PK Malik is a first-generation Indian immigrant, trapped between modernity and tradition, between desire and restraint, between personal fulfilment and …
With the help of social media and the internet, aspiring writers have a new avenue to share their stories and make themselves known to audiences and publishers. Many successful authors today actually started their writing careers online. Bestselling book authors like E.L. James and Anna Todd wrote their first published books as fanfictions online. Meanwhile, Lang …
Finding Home marks the 50th anniversary of the Ugandan Asian exodus. In August 1972, Ugandan President Idi Amin ordered the country’s Indian and Pakistani communities to leave within 90 days. Many of the displaced were British citizens and, as a result, around 27,000 people emigrated to the UK, with thousands settling in Leicester. Finding Home features three new …