Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
It’s that time of year when self-help books promising to help us get fit, get healthy, be happy dominate the bestseller lists and we’re bombarded by ‘New Year, New You’ slogans leaving us feeling short changed; pondering a life that might have been if only we’d been brave enough to take a leap. The truth …
We’re book-ending our tenth birthday with an all-day festival on Saturday October 20th 2018 at The Wesley in London. The Asian Writer will once again bring together the contents of its website – interviews, masterclasses and features on literary trends – in a live format. The festival aims to support and encourage writers, by offering advice and inspiration …
Quite early on when planning my novel, I imagined Uma as Asian, and I guess the question isn’t why, but why not? Overwhelmingly, protagonists in books are white. I try to question myself as an author when it comes to choosing my characters. Britain is full of diversity, and that needs reflecting in the stories we …
In June this year, the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS)* published the initial findings of a new survey into UK author earnings. The study, commissioned by ALCS, and carried out by CREATe found that author earnings are in sharp decline. It’s main findings reveal that the median earnings of professional writers – that is …
A new mentoring scheme for Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic writers based in the Midlands is open for applications. The Middle Way Mentoring project is a two year professional development scheme, funded by Arts Council England, and led by editor of The Asian Writer, Farhana Shaikh. Writers will have an opportunity to develop their writing, receive …
The short story has traditionally been an American love affair. Hemingway, Carver and Vonnegut are often cited among the ‘greatest’ of all time. Across the Atlantic, hundreds of new short stories are published each week through independent small presses, the New Yorker publishes one each issue, which is unpicked and put back together again during …
It’s been an interesting few years for British crime fiction. The market for crime novels has been growing steadily, and last year it became the most popular fiction genre in the UK with sales of almost nineteen million books. And yet, as recently as 2015, you’d be hard pressed to find one crime novel written …
Iman Qureshi has won the 2018 Papatango New Writing Prize for her play, The Funeral Director. The Funeral Director was chosen from 1384 entries to the competition, and explores the life of a gay Muslim woman who runs a funeral parlour and is ‘an incisive and heartfelt’ story of sexuality, gender and religion in 21st-century …
Preti Taneja has won the eleventh annual Desmond Elliott Prize, the UK’s most prestigious award for first-time novelists, (20th June). Taneja takes home the £10,000 Prize for her “awe-inspiring” debut novel, We That Are Young, beating fellow shortlisted authors, Gail Honeyman (Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine) and Paula Cocozza (How to Be Human). A retelling of …
Kali Theatre and Curve has launched a new initiative to search for South Asian women writers across 3 UK cities. Its mission is to discover, support and nurture the next generation of aspiring female playwrights – who currently are hugely underrepresented – and bring their rich, diverse voices and experiences to the stage. The programme, …