We’ve been here several times before discussing your writing. What’s happened since we last spoke? Now, I actually have a book out, Coconut Unlimited. It’s out in October on Quartet Books. Since we last spoke, I’ve signed a book deal, started developing a sitcom for a TV channel, eaten my bodyweight in idlis, now I’ve …
Happy Birthday to Me: a collection of contemporary Asian writing
The Asian Writer’s first collection Happy Birthday to Me : A collection of contemporary Asian writing is due for release on October 30th 2010. The collection features new writing by emerging writers on the theme of celebration, a selection of interviews from the last three years of The Asian Writer as well as an advice …
Asit Maitra
When did you start writing poetry? I started writing poetry when I was about 18. What was the first poem that you wrote, that you thought was good? My first poem that I thought was good (and published in the Sunday Supplement of a local Bengali newspaper) was titled ‘Bhanga chair’, (broken chair), a raw …
Fatima Al Matar
When did you start writing poetry? I started writing poetry in my early teens. What was the first poem you wrote that you thought was good? I can’t really remember the first poem I wrote which I thought was good as I started writing quite young and my standards have changed dramatically since then. However …
Sweta Srivastava Vikram
When did you start writing poetry? I want to say when I was in my pre-teens. Growing up, I always liked collecting diaries and scribbling in them, but I formally started dabbling in poetry when I joined my boarding school in Mussoorie, India. Of course, over the years, my voice and style (impacted by my …
Meeting Arvind Mehrotra
Arvind Mehrotra is a name that you might not be too familiar with, but in May last year, he was the first Indian poet to be nominated for the chair of Professor of Poetry at Oxford. Mehrotra is considered to be one of the leading Indian poets writing in English and currently heads the English …
The Obscure Logic of the Heart
From the first moment Anil Mayur sees Lina Merali he is mesmerised – there is only one thing he knows. He has to make her his. For Lina Merali, whom the blurb says is a devoted muslim daughter (but I would disagree with this) its not just a simple matter of whether she likes Anil. …
The Obscure Logic of the Heart
The Asian Writer caught up with Priya Basil to discuss her latest novel, The Obscure Logic of the Heart.
In the Hot Seat with Roopa Farooki
My favourite author is Tolkien, as Lord of the Rings is still my favourite book. My bedside read Currently a pile of parenting books (I have five month old twin girls) and my students’ MA assignments. The most inspiring person I’ve ever met My mother, who believes that everything is possible. My writing ritual Sitting in …
The Reluctant Author: Sagheer Afzal
I arrange to meet Sagheer Afzal, author of The Reluctant Mullah, after meeting him at a book signing in Leicester. He is well mannered and eager to to talk about his book which has been recently been published. Fed up with the books he was reading, the former Science teacher, Afzal took up writing as …