From 20-22 March, the Historical Novel Society Australasia
is holding its inaugural conference in Sydney. The theme is The Historical Novel in Peace and War. Open
to all, the conference will be a celebration of historical fiction in
a weekend of talks, panels, debates, book launches and readings.
Saturday 28 February 2015
Quick Notice: new titles from Asian Review Of Books
Please note these two new titles from Asian Review Of Books, both edited by Peter Gordon, and published through Chameleon Press in Hong Kong.
Print editions of the Asian Review of Books: Volume 1, Number 3, January 2015, covering October - December 2014.
China 2014 : The Year in Books
Thursday 26 February 2015
Woman + Pink Motorcycle = Adventure
UK-based Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent is an itinerant adventurer
and a travel writer. Her first book, Tuk-tuk
to the Road: Two Girls, Three Wheels, 12,500 Miles was an account of how
she and a friend drove a tuk-tuk from Bangkok to the UK. She followed up with A Short Ride In The Jungle: The Ho Chi Minh
Trail By Motorcycle, her account of seven weeks she spent discovering the
Ho Chi Minh Trail, alone, on a bike called The
Pink Panther, because of its pretty pink spray job.
Tuesday 24 February 2015
New Delhi World Book Fair Reaches One Million Consumers
See here for an interesting overview of the New Delhi World Book Fair, from the US-based online magazine Publishing Perspectives.
This Week In Asian Review Of Books
Asian Books Blog is not a review site. If you want reviews, see the Asian Review of Books. Here is a list of its newest reviews:
Most Secret Agent of Empire: Reginald Teague-Jones, Master Spy of the Great Game by Taline Ter Minassian reviewed by Peter Gordon
The China-Pakistan Axis: Asia’s New Geopolitics by Andrew Small reviewed by Kerry Brown
Liem Sioe Liong's Salim Group: The Business Pillar of Suharto's Indonesia by Richard Borsuk and Nancy Chng reviewed by Tim Hannigan
Mackinder Revisited: Will China Establish Eurasian Empire 3.0? by Artyom Lukin
The Orphan Sky by Ella Leya reviewed by Peter Gordon
Most Secret Agent of Empire: Reginald Teague-Jones, Master Spy of the Great Game by Taline Ter Minassian reviewed by Peter Gordon
The China-Pakistan Axis: Asia’s New Geopolitics by Andrew Small reviewed by Kerry Brown
Liem Sioe Liong's Salim Group: The Business Pillar of Suharto's Indonesia by Richard Borsuk and Nancy Chng reviewed by Tim Hannigan
Mackinder Revisited: Will China Establish Eurasian Empire 3.0? by Artyom Lukin
The Orphan Sky by Ella Leya reviewed by Peter Gordon
Monday 23 February 2015
Space for Thought: the LSE Literary Festival
Space for Thought, a literary festival organised by The London School Of Economics
(LSE), starts today. Each year, the Festival seeks to explore an idea at the heart of LSE, encapsulated in
the motto: to understand the causes of
things. This year, the theme is foundations, and the Festival will therefore
examine foundations of various sorts: of knowledge; of society; of identity; of
literature.
Saturday 21 February 2015
Book of the Lunar Year: full results
As announced yesterday Bamboo Heart by Ann Bennett has won the
poll to find Asian Books Blog’s Book of the Lunar Year.
Most people simply voted, but
some included comments explaining why they’d made their choice. Here are some
comments typical of those made about Bamboo
Heart:
The story is gripping, the characters
well-drawn and believable and it is very well written.
A truly compelling read.
This was such a moving story, beautifully told,
balancing a flavour of the place and time with a deep involvement in the lives
of interesting, well-drawn and, above all, credible characters.
A wonderful uplifting read - a new perspective about the
death railway.
Friday 20 February 2015
Book of the Lunar Year: Bamboo Heart
The winner of the inaugural Asian Books Blog Book of the Lunar Year, in the Year of the Horse, is Bamboo Heart, by Ann Bennett, with 34% of votes cast.
Congratulations Ann!!!
Blog readers have said some lovely things about Bamboo Heart. Full analysis of the results, and comments from voters, will follow tomorrow.
Congratulations Ann!!!
Blog readers have said some lovely things about Bamboo Heart. Full analysis of the results, and comments from voters, will follow tomorrow.
Saturday 14 February 2015
Book of the Lunar Year New Date
The announcement of the Asian Books Blog Book of the Lunar Year will now take place on Friday, 20 Feb, not Wednesday, 18 Feb. If you want to vote, but haven't yet got around to it, please do so!!! See here for details. Currently A Madras Miasma and Bamboo Heart are in the lead. Capital has gained quite a few votes in the last couple of days.
Thursday 12 February 2015
Questions & Answers: Alison Jean Lester
American-born, but Singapore-based, author Alison Jean Lester
has just published Lillian on Life, a wonderful novel, one that I urge you to read. It is a funny, wise, honest, and
moving exploration of one woman’s life, her loves and losses, and her thoughts on
everything from sex, to English as a foreign language – indeed, the whole novel
is constructed out of short reflections, On
Getting To Sex, On English As A Foreign
Language, etc.
Alison Jean Lester came
to Singapore from Tokyo in 1999 as a trailing spouse, with two little children
in tow. When she and her husband separated two years later, and then divorced, neither
of them wanted to leave.
Alison says: “Singapore proved to be a very good place for us. We could
pursue our working goals and raise our children in a supportive environment
without many of the stresses we would have experienced in other major cities.
There were certainly times when I would have liked to leave, but it made the best
sense to stay, and I was rewarded by meeting my second husband here.”
So: questions and answers with Alison Jean Lester
Karachi Winners
The winners of the three literary prizes awarded at the Karachi Literary Festival have been announced.
The winners for the Peace Prize sponsored by the German Embassy / Consulate:
1st Prize Mecca by
Ziauddin Saddar
1st Prize The Ahmadis and
the politics of religious exclusion in Pakistan by Ali Usman Qasmi
2nd Prize Conflict
management and vision for a secular Pakistan by Moonis Ahmar
3rd Prize Delhi by Heart by
Raza Rumi
The winner for the Fiction Prize sponsored by the French
Embassy:
Survival Tips for
Lunatics by Shandana Minhas
The winner for Nonfiction Prize sponsored by Coca Cola:
Ottoman Turkey, Ataturk,
and Muslim South Asia, Perspectives, Perceptions, and Responses, by M. Naeem Qureshi
Tuesday 10 February 2015
Questions & Answers: Ubud Writers Group
Raelee Chapman talks to Steve Castley, of
the Ubud Writers Group. Steve has self-published two books, Through My Eyes: Adventures in Bali, in
2010 and A taste of Bali: stories and
poems, in collaboration with Julie Silvester, in 2011. He is currently
working on a gay romance called Nothing
is Forever, and also a memoir called Stuffy's
Story: 3 Mums, 6 Years.
How long has your writers group
been running? When and why was it formed?
The Ubud Writers Group was founded on the 16th September 2008 and has
grown in strength ever since.
Our group has been operating for nearly 8 years now and for me it is a
highlight of my fortnight. I know this is also true for the other members.
In the fledgling years, we were hobby writers, scared to share our
writing, fearful of having our egos bruised. But our group was set up to
encourage writing and writers and our members have never lost sight of that
goal.
We trust each other and are sensitive to the way we give feedback. Each
one of us has evolved as a writer and the Ubud Writers’ Group can take some
credit for this. We are a group that inspires writers and writing.
Writers’ Groups are worth seeking out. I doubt that any two operate in
the same way, but they are made up of like-minded people who love to read and
write.
Thursday 5 February 2015
Karachi Literature Festival, 2015
The Karachi Literature Festival
(KLF) was launched in March 2010 and has been such a resounding success the
organisers have recently added two sister events to their calendar, the Lahore and
Islamabad Literature Festivals.
This momentum reflects the depth
of Pakistan’s historical, literary, and cultural roots, and the great desire
and energy throughout the whole country to seek knowledge, understanding, and
creative growth.
KLF 2015, to be held this
weekend, will bring together and celebrate authors writing in diverse languages,
genres, and traditions. It will feature debates, discussions, lectures, mushaira, (traditional Pakistani poetry slams), a
book fair, book launches, readings, signings, comedy, satire, theatre, music,
and children’s sessions such as storytelling, puppetry, painting, singing, and
creative movement.
Three literary prizes will be awarded during the Festival:
The KLF Coca-Cola Prize goes to the best
non-fiction title originally written in English by a Pakistani or
Pakistan-origin foreign national, published anywhere worldwide, and it comes
with a prize of PKR 200,000.
The KLF Peace Prize, which comes with a prize of
Euros 4000, is a joint project of the KLF, the Consulate General of Germany in
Karachi, and the Embassy of Germany in Islamabad. It goes to a fiction or
non-fiction title that promotes peace, tolerance, and international
understanding, published anywhere worldwide in any language translated into
English, and written by a Pakistani or a Pakistani-origin foreign national
residing anywhere worldwide, or any foreign national who is a resident of
Pakistan.
The KLF Embassy of France Prize promotes fiction
originally written in English. The author, who must be a Pakistani or a
Pakistani-origin foreign national residing anywhere worldwide, of the best
novel or short story collection, published anywhere worldwide or
self-published, wins an official invitation for a fully-sponsored visit to the
Paris Book Fair.
If you are in
Karachi, KLF will be held at the Beach Luxury Hotel on 6, 7, and 8 February.
There’s no need to register in advance: just turn up. It’s free to attend.
Tuesday 3 February 2015
This Week in Asian Review of Books
Asian Books Blog is not a review site. If you want reviews, see the Asian Review of Books. Here is a list of its newest reviews:
The Mysteries of the Marco Polo Maps by Benjamin B. Olshin reviewed by Tim O’Connell
Masked: The Life of Anna Leonowens, Schoolmistress at the Court of Siam by Alfred Habegger reviewed by Nigel Collett
Don’t Let Him Know by Sandip Roy reviewed by Jane Wallace
Ticket to Childhood by Nguyen Nhat Anh reviewed by Timothy Sifert
The Mysteries of the Marco Polo Maps by Benjamin B. Olshin reviewed by Tim O’Connell
Masked: The Life of Anna Leonowens, Schoolmistress at the Court of Siam by Alfred Habegger reviewed by Nigel Collett
Don’t Let Him Know by Sandip Roy reviewed by Jane Wallace
Ticket to Childhood by Nguyen Nhat Anh reviewed by Timothy Sifert
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