The Home of British Asian Writing
1. The Spot In my heart there was a spot where we stood where I stand, still. And flowers that grew there have withered and died around me, when the seasons changed. I miss them, and for this, I waited there, for yet another spring. When spring came, and while they grew again – dancing …
Aunty Safia was Uncle Safdar’s wife and she talked to people in the air. This is how my mind sketched her first portrait in my childhood. Uncle Safdar was my father’s elder brother and lived with my grandparents. He was a tall thin man with one of the kindest faces I have ever seen, and …
“I…love…you”, and I loved you too. Your sound, a sweet voice, excited, so happy I’ve come around. Moans, groans and changing tones through a day, later arguing, shouting, swearing, the good times didn’t stay. Your Chanel perfume, I think that I can still smell, And the over-cooked lasagne, you thought I couldn’t tell. Left the …
I was excited but nervous about having the first fifty pages of my novel-in-progress reviewed by the novelist Jacqui Lofthouse, founder of The Writing Coach, a mentoring organisation for writers. This was the rather generous prize for winning The Asian Writer’s 2012 short story competition. Parts of my novel had been reviewed in writing workshops, …
Q. How come we’ve not heard of you before? Tell us more about yourself and how you found yourself writing? A: Well, quite simply, you haven’t heard of me because you didn’t need to have till now! I’ve been writing since university, but have practised as a lawyer ever since. Still do. I did in …
The Grassroutes Commission is now ready. Click on this link to read the commission, a poetry sequence called Five Voices Leicester by Anita Sivakumaran. Grassroutes promotes public knowledge of Leicestershire’s diverse literary cultures. The project surveys high-quality transcultural writing by Leicestershire-based writers from 1980 to the present. It fosters local, national and international appreciation – …
The Asian Writer catches up with Kishwar Desai, author of Origins of Love
Irfan Master and I have arranged to meet at The Curve, a recent addition to Leicester’s regeneration in the Cultural Quarter. We’re in Master’s hometown. This is where he grew up, worked as a librarian, before moving to London to take up a post at the National Literacy Trust. He’s returned home, a decade later, …
Writer, comedian and TV personality, Meera Syal stars opposite Paul Bhattacharjee in the RSC’s vibrant and new production set in modern day India. Audiences will step into India as soon as they enter through the doors of the Courtyard Theatre – with awnings and stalls, Indian music, and a large tree dominating the stage. Tom Piper, …
The Asian Writer interviews debut novelist, Rosie Dastgir