Romesh Gunesekera's Blog, page 3
October 13, 2013
New story in Granta
A new story from my next book is in Granta this month. The story is called ‘Mess’ and it is from my new book due in February from Penguin India and a little later from Granta Books in the UK.
June 17, 2013
Climate Change
Here is an interview and short reading I did in Kolkata for Earth Day Network India.
May 20, 2013
Pamplemousses: The Botanic Gardens
I wrote a piece about the Gardens in which Lucy and Don meet after my visit to Mauritius earlier this year. Gulf News published it along with a review of The Prisoner of Paradise.
April 30, 2013
Granta’s List of Best of Young British Novelists
One year ago, almost to the day, I was invited by Granta’s editors to join a panel of seven to identify the twenty best young British novelists writing today. This is a list that is produced every ten years and always has had a lot of attention. Writers on the previous judging panels have been Salman Rushdie, Hilary Mantel and A S Byatt. This time the judges were A L Kennedy (novelist), Stuart Kelly (The Scotsman), Gaby Wood (The Telegraph), John Freeman (Granta), Ellah Allfrey (Granta) and Sigrid Rausing (owner of Granta).
We met several times over the nine months before we came to our final selection. Books and submissions came in crates in the summer and the autumn of last year. We had a tremendous amount of reading to do and unlike with most other literary prizes, this was reading to get a sense of a writer’s achievement, direction and promise. The conversations that we had were illuminating and hugely enjoyable, and every time we took each writer at his or her word, nothing more. In the process, I discovered writers I would otherwise never have come across and that has been a real pleasure. We arrived at our final decisions after a long day of talk in early January, but could tell no one until the embargo was lifted this month. So much good news and nowhere to spread it.
Of course we didn’t get everybody we wanted in: these lists never tell the whole story. But this list does show just how much good exciting writing is going on. The novel in 2013 is doing well and there is a lot more to come.
The List
Naomi Alderman, Tahmima Anam, Ned Beauman,Jenni Fagan, Adam Foulds, Xiaolu Guo, Sarah Hall, Steven Hall, Joanna Kavenna, Benjamin Markovits, Nadifa Mohamed, Helen Oyeyemi, Ross Raisin, Sunjeev Sahota, Taiye Selasi, Kamila Shamsie, Zadie Smith, David Szalay, Adam Thirlwell, Evie Wyld.
April 21, 2013
April 15, 2013
March 25, 2013
March 18, 2013
March 16, 2013
February 15, 2013
Out now in paperback!
The Prisoner of Paradise is out in paperback now! On-line and at all good bookshops.
Some music to read by …
