Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
by Farhana Khalique She bit into the peppermint too soon. And then she knew. Her eyes widened, darting around the carriage. A suit, backpacks, a pushchair. Why were they so normal, when everything had changed? She looked at the wrinkled wrapper in her hands, blue already bleeding into white. All because she hadn’t waited, just …
by Shibani Lal Revathi makes herself a cup of tea. She rarely drinks tea nowadays, preferring the bitter hit of an espresso each morning. However today she feels – she doesn’t quite know what she feels, but she knows that the hiss of the coffee machine will not comfort her. She glances around her kitchen. …
Amma was ritualistically watering her plants, which included fighting with pigeons and making small talk with squirrels. The rodent droppings never bothered her but she would get colossally upset with bird shit. I think it was probably the unusual mixture of white and green or maybe it was just the quantity. Watering a plant was …
Shehan Karunatilaka, author of Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew has won the Commonwealth Book Prize. The winners were announced at the Hay Festival earlier this month. The £10,000 prize is awarded annually and celebrates the best of literature written across the commonwealth. Margaret Busby, Chair of the Commonwealth Book Prize said of the winning title: “This …
He was glad he had a Thai-Indian girlfriend. On military leaves he didn’t have to go back to the States anymore where the war followed him everywhere. Daily, you could see something about Iraq. It was all around. Americans protesting on the streets, politicians debating on the television, columnists writing in newspapers, the president giving …
It was supposed to be a joke. After so many years I bumped into my best friend from childhood, Kelly in the local launderette. We greeted each other with a big hug and wished each other a Happy New 2011. She introduced me to her 14 year old daughter Tilly. I couldn’t believe that time …
“Try shrinking your ego and expanding your brain!” she yelled. “Eh? I got a distinction in Physics and a scholarship for my masters…and you’re telling me to expand my brain?” She marched out and slammed the door so hard that I thought the cottage would crumble to the ground. An image rushed to my head …
Anthony Padman was born in Malaya (as it was then called) and educated in schools in Malaya and Singapore. Later, he went for tertiary studies to the United Kingdom. He graduated with a Law Degree from the University of Wales and subsequently called to the English Bar. He has both taught and practised Law in …