The Home of British Asian Writing
by Aliya Ali-Afzal In November I wrote 50k words in one month. It would normally take me a whole year to write that much. So, how did I make this leap? It felt like magic but in reality it was a series of more prosaic steps that anyone can take, to reach a seemingly impossible …
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 …
Zafar Anjum A lot of my reading this year and the last has been around two totally unrelated themes—poet Muhammad Iqbal and start up ecosystems. I was reading books on these two themes as research for the two books that I had been working on. Among the few others that …
The Asian Writer caught up with Bidisha to find out more about her serialised novel, Esha Ex.
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 …
The Asian Writer caught up with YA novelist, Saumya Balsari
Big publishers dominate this year’s longlist for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2015 which was announced at the Goethe-Institut, Max Mueller Bhavan October 20, 2014. The longlist of ten books includes a mix of established writers and debut novelists from different backgrounds and geographies including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, some of …
An unpublished writer from Leicester has secured first prize in two national writing awards. Emerging talent, Mahsuda Snaith was named the winner of the SI Leeds Prize, at an awards ceremony at the Ilkley Literature festival (October 15) and winner of the 2014 Bristol Short Story Prize a week later (October 25). Bristol Short Story …
The Asian Writer caught up with journalist, Huma Qureshi to talk about her first book, In Spite of Oceans, Migrant Voices.
My Name is….tells the real story of Molly Campbell, who hit headlines in 2006 after running away to Pakistan to live with her father. Initially Molly was thought to have been abducted by her father and taken to Pakistan. Days later, a happy Molly was seen in Pakistan declaring her name is Misbah and that …