Raising the profile of South Asian writers since 2007
Asma Khan’s latest cookery book, Ammu is a delightful collection of childhood recipes that celebrates the power of home cooking and the inextricable link between food and love. Published by Ebury, the book features more than 100 recipes alongside a wonderful memoir which captures Khan’s childhood and the woman who taught her how to cook, …
The characters in your short story collection Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness come from widely ranging backgrounds and ethnicities. Was it difficult to make this leap of imagination or do you engage in research? The characters in Mrs Pinto Drives to Happiness reflect the world we live in- in all its fractured yet glorious technicolour …
Why did you enter the Creative Future Writers’ Awards? I have been on a strange journey with writing and life up until this moment… After ten years of working on a novel, I decided I needed to start sending my work out… I didn’t know any writer people, and wasn’t part of a writer group, …
The Mismatch by Sara Jafari is relatable, honest and romantic. One family, two women and a secret that threatens to ruin them both. Don’t be deceived by the premise, Jafari’s debut delivers much more than simple romance. Soraya is a twenty-one-year-old graduate trying to navigate between her conservative Iranian upbringing and the western freedoms she …
Every year we host students from the University of Leicester for a 10-week placement. The scheme run by the university provides students with an opportunity to gain work experience in a small press to enhance their learning. Students often work remotely and are supported by editor Farhana Shaikh to pursue a personal project – something …
In the kitchen, Maya and the three under-chefs were busy with the night’s dinner. The smell of fried onions, garlic and ginger filled the air, and the sounds of sizzling and percussive tin lids created a hypnotic rhythm as heaps of aromatic spices were tossed into the pots – orange turmeric, yellow heeng, red chilli …
by Catherine Coe I’ve been a children’s book editor for twenty years, and a freelancer for the last ten. As well as working for publishers and literary agents, I have many clients who are writers – usually those who are yet to be published and agented, helping them to develop their craft and evolve their …
26th March 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the Bangladesh war, struggle and subsequent Independence. East London is home to a vibrant and dynamic British Bengali community who, with strong cultural and familial ties, were deeply impacted by these events. Against a backdrop of 1970s East End revolutionary spirit, many local people were vocal and active …
Boy, Everywhere by AM Dassu chronicles the harrowing journey taken from Syria to the UK by teenager Sami and his family. From privilege to poverty, across countries and continents, from a smuggler’s den in Turkey to a prison in Manchester, it is a story of survival, of family, of bravery. Dassu says she was inspired …
The Little War Cat written by Hiba Noor Khan follows the story of a little grey cat who is caught up in the conflict in war-torn Aleppo. Roaming the streets looking for food one day she meets an unlikely friend who shows her that kindness is there when you look for it. Soon the cat knows …