The Home of British Asian Writing
Q. Tell us more about the story behind Wipers. Wipers is the story of four soldiers at the first battle of Ypres in WW1, mainly focusing on the untold stories of the vast number of South Asian soldiers that were involved in the battle. It’s set in a barn off the front-line where these four …
BBC Three’s anticipated factual-based drama Murdered By My Father, due to air online today (March 29, 2016), has brought together an exciting cast of British-Asian acting talent from the film, television and online world. Inspired by real events, Murdered By My Father is directed by multi-award-winning director Bruce Goodison and written by new screenwriter Vinay …
Theatre Royal Stratford East presents The House of In Between, the untold story of the Hijra. The House of In Between follows the lives of a Hijra clan, a family trying to make their way through modern India, while maintaining their culture, traditions, beliefs and values. Written by Sevan K. Greene and directed by Pooja …
As editor of The Asian Writer, I’ve written before about whether Asian writers are outsiders looking in, ranted about the dynamics of writing British Asian fiction, and that Asian writers struggle to shake off cultural stereotypes. So, I was thrilled to be invited to join a panel discussion on ‘The Page is White? The publishing industry …
by James Wilkinson Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy, is a beautiful yet heavy piece of literature and one that should not be taken as a tool for escapism. Though the description of the landscape is lush, be warned: underneath this façade of beauty is a temple town riddled with an erring history, host to …
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 …