The Asian Writer talks to Ayad Akhtar on the eve of the opening night of his Pulitzer Prize winning debut play, Disgraced
The Blind Man’s Garden by Nadeem Aslam
by Shamika Shabnam “Every twelve-year-old boy pressed into battle by them, every ten-year-old girl forcibly married to mullah eight times her age, every man lashed, every woman beaten, every limb broken.” The Blind Man’s Garden is a heart-rending novel, unveiling the perilous conditions of post 9/11 Afghanistan. Jeo and Mikal, two friends …
Peter Hobbs
Q. You’re clearly not an Asian writer but what is it about South Asia, particularly Pakistan that inspired In the Orchard, the Swallows? Q. What are your personal experiences of Pakistan and why did you feel compelled to tell this story? What other experiences did you draw on to make the plot work? It’s hard …
Mohsin Hamid
The Asian Writer speaks to Mohsin Hamid about his books, self help and his Twitter etiquette.
Farah Ghuznavi on new writing from Bangladesh
The Asian Writer speaks to Farah Ghuznavi, editor of Lifelines: New Writing from Bangladesh
Jeet Thayil
Q. Narcopolis is an intoxicating read but a very different depiction of India than we are used to. Whose India, or which India were you hoping to reveal to readers? I was interested in revealing an India I rarely get to see in fiction. The kind of India I usually see is a place …
Bidisha
The Asian Writer caught up with Bidisha to talk about her recent book, Beyond the Wall: Writing a path through Palestine
Asit Maitra
Q. What do you think your poetry says about you? I think my poetry says, broadly speaking, two things about me: a) on the wider canvas, I am an angry introvert who desires the world to be just and fair but not a crusader. b) On an individual human level my poems echo the cries …
Anita Sivakumaran
Q. Firstly congratulations on winning the Grassroutes commission. How did you go about producing a winning brief for the commission. What inspired you to create fiction based on conversations with strangers? Thank you. Having recently moved to Leicester, I would chat to the locals about the city. It was while walking home after buying …
Niven Govinden
On publication of his latest novel, Black Bread White Beer, The Asian Writer exchanged emails with Niven Govinden…