The British Council presented the largest ever festival of Indian writers overseas at the London Book Fair this week (20-22 April). Over 45 Indian writers representing 15 major Indian languages participated in literary events in London and at venues across the UK. Vikram Seth, award winning writer of ‘A Suitable Boy’ featured as Author of …
Commonwealth Writers Prize Shortlist Announced
The shortlists for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book and Best First Book from Europe and South Asia were announced this month (February 18, 2009). The full shortlists are: Best Book Award Chris Cleave The Other Hand Shashi Deshpande The Country of Deceit Philip Hensher The Northern Clemency Jhumpa Lahiri …
A breeze of fresh air from The Linen Press
The Linen Press is a new, small publishing company based in Edinburgh has launched its first author. Breeze From The River Manjeera by Hema Macherla was published on November 1st, 2008. The lavish launch took place in London at The Nehru Centre, on November 5, 2008. Breeze from the River Manjeera follows the fortunes of …
The SAMA Writers Festival
Mohsin Hamid, Tahmima Anam, Preeta Samarasan and Kamila Shamsie, are some of the writers who took part in this year’s SAMA Writers Festival, held at The Sage Gateshead in Newcastle (10-12 October, 2008) The long weekend included readings, book launches and events as writers across the UK, India, France and Pakistan joined to share their …
Adiga wins Man Booker Prize 2008
Aravind Adiga is named the winner of the £50,000 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for The White Tiger, published by Atlantic (October 14, 2008). The Indian writer is one of two first-time novelists on the 2008 Man Booker shortlist of six. The other is Steve Toltz. Only three other debut novelists have achieved this in …
The Asian Writer New Writing Competition
The Asian Writer New Writing Competition is for: poems of up to 40 lines, max of three; fiction of up to 2,500 words, max of three. It is particularly aimed at encouraging British Asian writers. All short listed entries will be published on our blog, with the winning entries published on our website and in …
Hanif tops Guardian First Book Award
Mohammed Hanif, author of The Case of the Exploding Mangoes has been longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2008. In total, four novels, four non-fiction books, a collection of short stories and a book of poetry have made the cut from a selection of 170 books. The award is unique for rewarding new writing …
Two Asian Authors make Man Booker Prize Shortlist
First time novelist, Aravind Adiga and Amitav Ghosh have been shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize. Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger, is the story of Balram Halwai who dreams of escaping his life as a teashop worker turned chauffeur. Yet when his chance finally arrives and his eyes are opened to the revelatory city of …
Sukhraj Kaur Randhawa wins Orange /Harper's Bazaar Short Story Competition 2008
Midlands based writer Sukhraj Kaur Randhawa has triumphed over 200 aspiring writers to win the seventh Orange/Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Competition 2008. Judge and Editor of Harper’s Bazaar, Lucy Yeomans, presented a cheque for £1,000 to Sukhraj Kaur Randhawa at the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction awards ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre …
Nikita Lalwani's Gifted Glitters at the Desmond Elliot Prize 2008
Nikita Lalwani was tonight (Thursday, 26th June) named the winner of the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize for Gifted, a story about a maths prodigy growing up in 1980s Cardiff, published by Penguin Books. Penny Vincenzi, Chair of the Judges, said: “Gifted is a book of extraordinary range; it is touching, tender, funny and at the …