Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
I met Elif Shafak and heard her speak before I read any of her books. In person she is lovely, soft spoken, very kind and intense. On stage she is all those things plus she comes across as a deeply intelligent, thoughtful speaker with strong ideas. She conveys important thoughts about love, faith, culture, freedom …
by Adrienne Loftus Parkins Publishing catalogues for the last half of the year are out, so it’s time to take a look at what Asian books will be coming our way between now and Christmas. Here are my top picks – what I’ll be rushing to read as the year goes on. In August, Harvill …
by Adrienne Loftus Parkins If there is such a thing as a literature festival season, it’s now. Lit fests seem to be coming at us from all angles, in all parts of the country. When the weather improves, readers and writers come out in masses to talk about what they’ve been reading over the winter. …
by Adrienne Loftus Parkins To paraphrase George Santayana, those who do not learn about history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. This phrase kept coming to mind when reading two novels recently. Damon Galgut’s Arctic Summer and A Season for Martyrs by Bina Shah both take past events as their themes. Both are fascinating character …
by Adrienne Loftus Parkins Every few years, the question of stereotyping in Asian literature comes up for discussion. Many British Asian writers feel that publishers try to push them to write about post colonial stereotypes of their community – arranged marriages, conflict between traditional and modern values, the search for identity. Cultural stereotyping is a …
by Adrienne Loftus Parkins After a many years of living in India, Singapore and China, I feel in a way like I ‘grew up’ reading books by Asian authors. I read a lot of books with Asian themes; I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember, first for fun, then as part …
by Adrienne Loftus Parkins This is shaping up to be a big year for Asian literature with new books from big name authors Rushdie, Ishiguro and Ghosh publishing new novels and volume of poetry coming from Vikram Seth. But what about the rest? Here are my top 3 picks for the year. Sandip Roy has already …
by Sweta Srivastava Vikram At the Oscars this year, Robert De Niro’s intro of the best screenplay nominees caught the attention of many: “The mind of a writer can be a truly terrifying thing”, he said, before continuing, “Isolated, neurotic, caffeine-addled, crippled by procrastination and consumed by feelings of panic, self-loathing and soul-crushing inadequacy. And that’s on a good …
by Sita Brahmachari A few years ago I was sitting at an award ceremony – the Redbridge Book Award – in front of an audience of about five hundred school students involved in a borough wide competition to decide on their favourite books. It’s a real honour to receive any award for your work but …
Passion for reading from a young age sowed the seed for writing stories. After life got in the way I rekindled that passion in 2007 to sacrifice time to write. The last five years have been a learning curve in terms of how to write, practice, tips, as well as elements that I didn’t respect …