Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
by Alia Raffia It was during a family trip to the magical city of Lahore aged fourteen that I fell in love with Mughal art. My brother and I went on adventures together and visited places like Lahore Fort, Shalimar Gardens and Wazir Khan Mosque as well as the streets of the old city. The …
Bookouture and Dahlia Books join forces on an exclusive call-out for writers from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds – open Bookouture, in association with The Asian Writer and Dahlia Books, are putting out an exclusive call-out for commercial fiction submissions from unagented and unpublished writers from BAME backgrounds and will be offering professional editorial …
Set in vibrant 1950s India, A Suitable Boy, an epic tale of life and love based on the classic novel of the same name by Vikram Seth made its screen debut on BBC One earlier this month. Produced by Lookout Point (War And Peace, Les Misérables, Gentleman Jack), A Suitable Boy is a six-part drama adapted by …
When did you have the initial idea for Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line? When I was working as a reporter in India, I came across stories of real-life disappearances of children; that was the initial spark for the novel. I was writing on education and human rights, as part of which I often interviewed …
The Salam Award for Imaginative Fiction, a short story award which promotes science fiction and related genres is now open for entries. Now in its fourth year the prize aims to encourage and inspire writers from Pakistan to unleash their creative potential. The scope of the prize is broad and encompasses everything from science fiction …
Crime writer Abir Mukherjee has been shortlisted for a major literary prize. Mukherjee’s third book, Smoke and Ashes is one of six titles in contention for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Now in it’s 16th year the most coveted prize in crime fiction, presented by Harrogate International Festivals, represents crime writing …
Debut novelist Emma Smith-Barton and Costa winner Jasbinder Bilan have been shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. Emma’s novel The Million Pieces of Neena Gill has been placed in the Older Readers category, while Asha and the Spirit Bird by Jasbinder Bilan is listed in the Younger Readers category. Now in its sixteenth year, …
Brace yourselves, 2020 sees Asian authors returning to what they know and love: literary fiction. I don’t remember a time quite like it. Reminiscent of my mother’s Eid dinners, 2020 promises us abundance, from poetry collections to short stories, crime to children’s fiction. The year has already gifted us with some literary gems but there’s …
With falling author earnings it is common for writers to supplement their income with teaching or part time work. But the portfolio career or ‘slashie’ – juggling two or three entirely different careers at the same time – is a new way of working and it’s on the rise. Crime writer Vaseem Khan tells us …
Meena Kandasamy’s latest novel, Exquisite Cadavers began as a response to her second novel, When I Hit You. It follows the story of a young married couple as they navigate life and love in London and is an experimental project where Kandasamy attempts to write a story as far removed from her own as possible. …