Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
Q. Where did the inspiration for Home Fire, and to write a contemporary version of Sophocles Antigone, come from? The inspiration came entirely from Jatinder Verma who runs the Tara Arts theatre in London. He suggested that I might adapt Antigone in a contemporary context as a play. Once I started to think about it though, I realised …
Q. Where did the inspiration for The Stolen Child come from? A friend of a friend wanted to adopt a child. She’d heard of a woman who was being forced to give up her baby because the mother was a drug addict. I thought, what if that child was adopted and went to a lovely …
Vaseem Khan wrote his first novel at seventeen. As a bright young man on the cusp of adulthood he printed out his work, read through it and thought it was amazing. Publishers didn’t agree, and after receiving his first rejection letter, Khan decided to listen to his parents’ advice and went off to university to …
The Things I Would Tell You is a collection of new writing by British Muslim women, edited by writer Sabrina Mahfouz. The project started life more than two years ago and stemmed from Mahfouz’s work with high school girls. “There was nothing to go to, to see the wealth of writing that has come from …
Q. Tell us about your journey into writing crime fiction? Firstly can I just say thank you so much for this, it’s a big step being featured in TAW. So my writing journey has been an interesting one, I’ve written for years with various levels of success. My true passion though has always been crime. …
Here be Monsters! They lurk and crawl and fly in the shadows of our mind. We know them from ancient legends and tales whispered by the campfire. They hide under the dark bridge, in the deep woods or out on the great plains, in the drizzling rain forest or out on the foggy moor, beneath …
Here be Monsters! They lurk and crawl and fly in the shadows of our mind. We know them from ancient legends and tales whispered by the campfire. They hide under the dark bridge, in the deep woods or out on the great plains, in the drizzling rain forest or out on the foggy moor, beneath …
Tell us more about your journey as a poet? When did you start writing poetry and when did you start performing? I think the journey probably started before I knew it did – poetry was always in my house, and in our car through the old desi tunes my parents listened to. On top of …
Nikesh Shukla is one of the most exciting voices of our time. I remember when I interviewed many years ago. He was just figuring out who he was as an artist and I was somewhat in awe of his courage even then. I’ve interviewed him several times since and he’s one of the loveliest authors I’ve …
Firstly, congratulations on winning Best Short Fiction at the British Fantasy Awards . What was your reaction to the announcement? I was very surprised to make the short list and grateful to everyone who nominated me. To be honest, it’s not yet sunk in. What was your experience of writing competitions prior to this win? and …