Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
Q. What inspired you to write a psychological thriller? Have you always been fascinated by them or has it been a recent obsession? It’s a return to my roots! My last two novels (The Naked Name of Love and Sugar Island, published by John Murray) were historical fiction, but my first two were literary thrillers. …
Indian author, Jerry Pinto was recently awarded the ‘surprise’ Windham-Capmbell prize of $150,000 (approx £105,000). Established in 2013 with a gift from the late novelist Donald Windham in memory of his partner of 40 years, Sandy M. Campbell, the prizes recognize writers from any country who write in English. Past recipients have included Pankaj Mishra …
Q. The Living is your third novel. Tell us more about the novel writing process. What was different this time round, if at all? The novel writing process is: you’re in the dark, excited to find out about all sorts of things, seeing links, having insights, running around, wondering if you’ve finally lost it (no, actually …
Q. Your debut novel, Londonstani achieved a six-figure advance and was applauded by critics. Looking back, do you think it was a victim of its own early success? The book was clearly a victim of its own hype, but at the same time I actually reckon the hype was this necessary evilness. Because the hype meant that Londonstani found …
The real story of Indian Summers begins not in 1930’s India and the Himalayan foothills of Simla, but a few decades later, in a cupboard in a Darjeeling hotel. It was there that series creator Paul Rutman was shown a hoard of photos dating back to the Raj. This reignited a fascination with India and …
I have a confession to make. I’ve been reading almost nothing but psychological thrillers for four years. Bring me a herbal tea to still my shaking hands and an Austen to reacquaint me with literary tea-room drama. I love thrillers, don’t get me wrong, but the reason for gorging myself is because I wanted to …
Interviewed by James Wilkinson Since publishing her first novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, Anuradha Roy has developed into one of the most exciting new voices of South Asian literature. Published to critical acclaim, her first novel was published in thirteen different languages. Her second novel, The Folded Earth won the Economist Crossword Book Award 2011 and achieved …
A new prize celebrating the best book written by a writer of colour has been launched today. The Jhalak Prize is the first literary prize to open only to BME writers and will award £1,000 to the winner on an annual basis. Founded by authors, Sunny Singh and Nikesh Shukla along with Media Diversified and The …
Transworld Publishers have bought UK, Commonwealth (ex Canada) rights in a Bradford-based thriller series by British Asian author, A. A. Dhand from Simon Trewin at WME, with debut ‘Streets of Darkness’ coming in June 2016. Described as ‘Luther’ meets ‘The Wire’, ‘Streets of Darkness’ is the first novel featuring Harry Virdee – a suspended Detective Inspector who finds …
Q. The Private Life of Mrs Sharma is the second novel that you’ve written. Much has been said and written about writing that difficult ‘second novel’. What mindset were you in when you started? I think the difficulty with the second novel that you refer to applies to those (fortunate?) folks whose first books met …