The Asian Writer catches up with Shelina Janmohammed to find out more about why she felt compelled to write her first book, Love in a Headscarf… Followers of your blog will see you as a serious writer, who likes to address the issues about British Islam and the muslim struggle, did you feel that you …
Silent Night by Sharmila Chauhan
Sunshine sparkled through the grey afternoon. I sat in on the bench, wrapped in my own obliqueness. I was lost. I looked up at the clouds, at the tiny tapering ends, almost invisible. Was it an infinite haze of vapour droplets? I mused, watching as the black birds circled the pale billows. Suddenly the sun …
Bhangra Moves by Sarfraz Ahmed
Coloured fabrics flew through the wind, Like flags upon a ship, Music flowed through her body, Occasionally she’d take a sip, And if she liked the taste, She’d hold the music, For a little longer in her hips, Now and then she’d tease it out, Through her fingertips, Bodies reacting like electricity, While the music …
Paper Dream by Ernesto Pangilinan Santiago
My dream, I live it in a paper coated with crème caramel. I frolic in words of my shadow with the seas, the skies and the lands and tread the dunes of time, touching all the things around me; then settle down over a midnight coffee in the silence of night. Oh, I do attend …
Tishani Doshi
Tishani Doshi was born in Madras to a Welsh mother and a Gujarati father, and is based in India, after periods living in America and England. Her first book of poems, Countries of the Body won the 2006 Forward prize for best first collection. She was the winner of the 2006 All-India Poetry Competition, and …
The Asian Writer meets 'Gifted' Lalwani
Nikita Lalwani, author of Gifted, and winner of The Desmond Elliot Prize is my last and final interview of the weekend. I’m looking forward to it, naturally. Lalwani is amiable and approachable without being intimidating. I like that about her, she is definitely a natural and appears confident without having any air of arrogance about …
A breeze of fresh air from The Linen Press
The Linen Press is a new, small publishing company based in Edinburgh has launched its first author. Breeze From The River Manjeera by Hema Macherla was published on November 1st, 2008. The lavish launch took place in London at The Nehru Centre, on November 5, 2008. Breeze from the River Manjeera follows the fortunes of …
The SAMA Writers Festival
Mohsin Hamid, Tahmima Anam, Preeta Samarasan and Kamila Shamsie, are some of the writers who took part in this year’s SAMA Writers Festival, held at The Sage Gateshead in Newcastle (10-12 October, 2008) The long weekend included readings, book launches and events as writers across the UK, India, France and Pakistan joined to share their …
A closer reading of Corner Shop with Roopa Farooki
Firstly I have to ask, what made you throw the lovely Zaki into a river, and run away for good? For much of the novel I thought Zaki would be the one to bring everyone together – were you tempted to go down that road? Or did you always know the fate of his character? …
The perfect ten: In the hot seat with Nasreen Akhtar
1) In your quest for love did you ever think that it was going to be such an emotional rollercoaster? Never could I have imagined it to be so. The depth of human emotion is amazing! 2) Did you write the book as you went along, or did you write it later? In its entirety, …