Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
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, …
British Pakistani writer, Kamila Shamsie has won the 2018 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her seventh novel, Home Fire. (June 6, 2018) At an awards ceremony hosted in Bedford Square Gardens, central London – hosted by novelist and Women’s Prize Founder Director, Kate Mosse – the 2018 Chair of Judges, Sarah Sands presented the author …
Louisiana Catch, my debut U.S. novel, is about Ahana, a 33-year-old grieving daughter and sexual abuse survivor from New Delhi who must summon the courage to run a feminist conference in New Orleans, trust a man she meets over the Internet, and unravel the mystery of an online predator in order to find her power. …
The inaugural Portobello Prize has been awarded to Samira Shackle for Karachi Vice. A fresh and thrilling exploration of Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi Vice showcases an electrifying new voice in non-fiction. This glimpse of a city largely misrepresented and misunderstood is told with a clear sense of urgency and with a personal connection. It will …
Applications are now open to join a free playwriting programme running this autumn. Critical Mass, at the Belgrade Theatre, is for writers aged 18+ from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee backgrounds. The programme is in partnership with with Euphoric Ink and in association with Tamasha Theatre Company and will run from September to December 2018 for one evening a week. …
The Lancaster Playwriting Prize is a new partnership initiative between Lancaster University and The Dukes Theatre, Lancaster; it is supported by Lucy Briers, Tamasha Theatre Company and Arts Council England. In this inaugural year, the Prize is focused on BAMER (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee) playwrights. The aim is not just to discover new …
Meena Kandasamy and Kamila Shamsie have both been shortlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize. Kandasamy’s second novel, When I Hit You is a heartbreaking and shocking account of a young woman living in a abusive marriage. Seduced by politics, poetry and an enduring dream of building a better world together, a young woman falls in love …
Preti Taneja’s debut novel, We That Are Young has been shortlisted for this year’s Desmond Elliot Prize. It is one of three novels that is in the running to win the £10,000 prize awarded and be named the best debut novel of the year. We That Are Young is an ambitious retelling of King Lear which explores the …