The Home of British Asian Writing
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 …
Tomb of Sand, written by Geetanjali Shree and translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell, was announced as the winner of the 2022 International Booker Prize last week (26 May). Tomb of Sand is the first book in any Indian language to win the prize, and the first novel translated from Hindi to be recognised by …
A new literary scheme Space To Write is looking to support writers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds who want to write or are already writing commercial fiction. Launched with Orion Publishing, Metro.co.uk and The Arvon Foundation, the project is inspired by Queenie author Candice Carty-Williams’ journey to success. The Project aims to give prospective authors the access, time and space …
Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree is one of six books in contention for this year’s International Booker Prize. It is the first Hindi novel to be shortlisted for the prize in its seventeen year history. Translated by Daisy Rockwell from Hindi and published by Titled Axis Press the novel was originally published as Ret …
Asma Khan’s latest cookery book, Ammu is a delightful collection of childhood recipes that celebrates the power of home cooking and the inextricable link between food and love. Published by Ebury, the book features more than 100 recipes alongside a wonderful memoir which captures Khan’s childhood and the woman who taught her how to cook, …
The characters in your short story collection Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness come from widely ranging backgrounds and ethnicities. Was it difficult to make this leap of imagination or do you engage in research? The characters in Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness reflect the world we live in- in all its fractured yet glorious technicolour …
Why did you enter the Creative Future Writers’ Awards? I have been on a strange journey with writing and life up until this moment… After ten years of working on a novel, I decided I needed to start sending my work out… I didn’t know any writer people, and wasn’t part of a writer group, …
The Mismatch by Sara Jafari is relatable, honest and romantic. One family, two women and a secret that threatens to ruin them both. Don’t be deceived by the premise, Jafari’s debut delivers much more than simple romance. Soraya is a twenty-one-year-old graduate trying to navigate between her conservative Iranian upbringing and the western freedoms she …