Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
Quite early on when planning my novel, I imagined Uma as Asian, and I guess the question isn’t why, but why not? Overwhelmingly, protagonists in books are white. I try to question myself as an author when it comes to choosing my characters. Britain is full of diversity, and that needs reflecting in the stories we …
In June this year, the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS)* published the initial findings of a new survey into UK author earnings. The study, commissioned by ALCS, and carried out by CREATe found that author earnings are in sharp decline. It’s main findings reveal that the median earnings of professional writers – that is …
A new mentoring scheme for Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic writers based in the Midlands is open for applications. The Middle Way Mentoring project is a two year professional development scheme, funded by Arts Council England, and led by editor of The Asian Writer, Farhana Shaikh. Writers will have an opportunity to develop their writing, receive …
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 …
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 …
The short story has traditionally been an American love affair. Hemingway, Carver and Vonnegut are often cited among the ‘greatest’ of all time. Across the Atlantic, hundreds of new short stories are published each week through independent small presses, the New Yorker publishes one each issue, which is unpicked and put back together again during …
I remember when I first wanted to become a novelist aged eight I was aware of two things: the first was that there were no people like me writing ‘genre’ fiction and the second was that I didn’t care that’s exactly what I wanted to do. I wasn’t aware of just how big a task …