The Home of British Asian Writing
“I’m in the department till twelve. You can come by eleven.” When I had texted Dr Verma the previous night, I knew this was my only chance if I wanted to meet her. I had chosen a Thursday for my meeting. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the social work department had fewer people than usual; students …
One of my stories had been selected for BareLit anthology, but that’s not the reason I packed a jam sandwich and caught a morning train to attend its festival last April. Only a month before, the government had announced that it was initiating an official EU withdrawal process. Like so many people I was feeling …
Once upon a time there was Woodstock and Glastonbury. For those literary minded there was the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts and the Edinburgh Book Festival. Now there isn’t a continent across the globe that doesn’t host a festival of one sort or another. Ranked third in the world by The Writers Academy is The Zee Jaipur …
Mahsuda Snaith’s mesmerising first novel The Things We Thought We Knew is a story full of twists and turns that blurs the lines between reality, memory and imagination. Eighteen year-old Ravine Roy has been bed-bound due to chronic pain syndrome for the last eleven years. From her bed, Ravine describes the Leicester council estate where …
When my daughter was four, she made me a book. It’s full of secret writing. She says I can decide what the writing says. Which made me think – is that what novels are like for writers – a book in our heads full of secret writing? We might transcribe it, or type it or …
During my nearly two decades in the book world I have received countless submissions from authors. Some of these were beautifully presented, enticing packages that made me want to read the whole manuscript. Some were not quite as polished but I was able to see past the rough edges to the interesting proposal beneath. Most, …
by Nilopar Uddin A damp evening in Manchester’s Dean Street, and Waterstones is brimming with eager faces. Speaking to the women sitting around me, I realise that Mohsin Hamid is something of a rockstar literati; this room is packed with fans who exhibit the effervescent excitement of groupies. Hamid, whose writings has been variously described …
by Tehseen Baweja How do you help somebody break free from the shackles of orthodoxy and conformity? This is a very real and deep-rooted problem in today’s Pakistani society with no simple answer. But one thing that is bound to help is encouraging those who dare to think outside the box, and The Salam Award …
Horror, science fiction and fantasy. Currently there’s a plethora of it on the small and big screen, such as Game of Thrones, Westworld and Arrival. Yet there remains an entrenched literary snobbery when such subject matter is between the covers despite Andrew Michael Hurley’s gothic novel, The Loney, winning the Costa Prize and Kelly Link’s …
When I look at South Asian books in a store, their covers make me think: how many of these books can actually be about sad, pretty South Asian women? I see spices, mangoes, arches… but what is the book about? A cover is supposed to indicate what to expect from the story, the genre and …