Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
It was Sumayya Usmani’s longing for home that led her to start a memoir-based food blog. At the time, she was working as a full-time lawyer, missing Pakistan and the food that she grew up with. She noticed that no-one was representing Pakistani cuisine, or what made it distinctive from its neighbours. Usmani began writing …
When did you decide that this story needed to be written? There are two moments that are crucial: there was one point within my marriage when I knew that I had to write out what I was living through because it seemed so improbable, incredible and horrendous and above all, frightening. I knew that to …
Following a whirlwind romance with a Yorkshire man, Shreya Sen-Handley left a successful career as a TV producer in India, to start a new life in Sheffield. Soon she discovered that life and love was not all that it appeared to be. Her new husband was violent and controlling, and deeply in debt. The chance …
Q. Tell us more about your novel, Dark Chapter It’s about a crime, and the two people who are connected by that crime: the victim and the perpetrator. They are complete strangers, and their lives intersect almost by random during that act of violence. So I explore their individual lives before that event, you see the …
Firstly congratulations on being the most influential woman in Manchester. What does this achievement mean to you and how you would you like to continue the rich cultural heritage that Manchester is so well known for, through your work? Thank you for your warm wishes- much appreciated! To be honest I was bemused to learn …
An exhibition of new artworks exploring The Partition of India in 1947 has opened at Soho House in Birmingham. The People of Partition in Birmingham is a new exhibition which explores how people living in Birmingham understand the 1947 Partition of India. The exhibition has been curated by artist Tasawar Bashir, in collaboration with 20 volunteers from the West …
At a time of political instability, many in the UK are clinging to the old, old story that has shaped our beliefs and values for the last fifty years. The old boys’ network that has held sway over British society for centuries is losing its shine, if not its power. While some desperately cling to …
My mother and grandmother told me folktales and myths in Gujarati. I read a lot as a kid too. My twin brother and I would go each week to the mobile library just beyond Hermitage Road in Loughborough. There we’d explore everything from Roald Dahl to Harriet the Spy to the Greek Myths. The librarian …
This month’s feature puts a spotlight on UK based writers who have found publication success in India. We spoke to India’s youngest literary agent, Kanishka Gupta of Writers Side, to gain an insight into how the UK publishing industry is perceived by those trying to place their books in the UK market. As a literary …
This month’s feature puts a spotlight on UK based writers who have found publication success in India and yet, at home, their novels remain unpublished. Here, we profile just three writers, Anita Srivakumaran, Mona Dash and Sarvat Hasin but there are many, many more. These writers not only face logistical challenges in terms of marketing …