Romesh Gunesekera's Blog, page 4
January 28, 2013
Paperback
The Prisoner of Paradise paperback arrived! Publication date 14 Feb especially for Valentines!
January 20, 2013
Who Cares About English?
In September, I took part in a panel discussion organised by the Oxford English Dictionary and the British Council at the Royal Society to discuss the state of the English language. Details of the event and a video of the opening can be seen at: Oxford Dictionaries.
More photos at: flickr.
December 17, 2012
Reef
Just enough time to discover Triton’s special turkey recipe.
Read Reef for Christmas and join the BBC World Book Club discussion on 16 January (BBC World Service).
The BBC facebook page is now collecting pictures of readers with Reef.
http://www.facebook.com/bbcworldbookclub
September 18, 2012
Summer Festivals
The wonderful West Cork Literary Festival at beautiful Bantry Bay. On stage with Kevin Barry and Claire Kilroy.
Islanders at Maritime Hotel, Bantry Bay
Then the Spiegeltent in Charlotte Square at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Talking to Glenn Patterson.
Earlier in the summer there were enjoyable events at Asia House in London and at the Brighton Festival. Pictures yet to materialise.
July 18, 2012
London Literature Festival – South Bank
Find out about the Asian Bloomsbury event at the South Bank on this video: London Literature Festival.
April 16, 2012
Festivals
Since The Prisoner of Paradise was published at the beginning of the year, I have been to three festivals. The first was the Galle Literary Festival in January. The new book had its first outing there, with a short reading on the opening night of the festival and then a full session with Gita Hariharan.
From Galle I went to India for the Jaipur Literature Festival. I could only make it for the last couple of days of the festival with a session on The Match with Rahul Bhattacharya and another with Richard Flanagan, Nathacha Appanah, Roshi Fernando and Jamaica Kincaid which I chaired. The biggest festival in Asia but overshadowed in the end by the debacle of the Rushdie affair.
I returned to Sri Lanka from Jaipur so that I could go to Jaffna for a very special event at the Jaffna Public Library. The first literary event of its kind since the end of the war. We had about a hundred students from a teacher training college and other colleges. The other two writers were Roshi Fernando from the UK and Ayathurai Shanthan from Jaffna.
Last month I went to the Dubai Festival of Literature. Sessions on identity, The Prisoner of Paradise and the glitter of prizes.
February 7, 2012
The Prisoner of Paradise – YouTube
Introducing The Prisoner of Paradise.
February 6, 2012
The Prisoner of Paradise
The Prisoner of Paradise is out!
Open the champagne. Buy the book.
Interview on The Strand: BBC World Service
January 8, 2012
Looking Ahead
This week off to Sri Lanka for the Galle Literary Festival to launch The Prisoner of Paradise. From there on to the Jaipur Litererary Festival and then back to Sri Lanka for a trip up to Jaffna for one more very special event with two other writers: Roshi Fernando and Aiyathurai Santhan. A lot to look forward to …
In February the new book will be out in the UK.
Then there is the Guardian Masterclass weekend with half a dozen other writers 4-5 February in London. On the 19th February we hope to start a new project in the Hornsey Library in North London. A series of two workshops over two Sundays where we will create a House of stories. Places are limited but all interested writers welcome. See House of Stories for more details.
December 24, 2011
An Orphan Eye
Dickens House
The BBC Radio 3 series of Essays on Dickens can be heard on the iplayer. There is a link to it on my new writing page and here: The Orphan Eye.
