Asian Books Blog is launching its
own literary award: The Asian Books Blog Book of the Lunar Year. The inaugural
winner, for the Year of the Horse, now drawing to a close, will be announced on
February 18, Chinese New Year’s Eve for the Year of the Ram / Goat.
As the name suggests, Asian Books
Blog tries to highlight books of particular interest in, or especially relevant to, Asia,
excluding the Near West / the Middle East. The award thus likewise
highlights such books. Authors can be of any nationality, and be published
anywhere, either conventionally, or through self-publication – an important
route for new voices within Asia, in countries with limited publishing industries.
Books
are eligible if, during the given year, in this case the Year of the Horse,
they featured in Asian Books Blog in any way except as part of the round-ups of
new and notable titles, or in very short notices of one variety or another.
The blog covers literary
fiction, genre fiction of all genres except erotica, and narrative non-fiction.
Hence books in these categories are eligible for the award. Books may be
either originally written in English, or translations into English.
The shortlist has 12 books, divided
into 2 categories, fiction and non-fiction. The fiction category includes 3 titles published in Asia, and 3
published beyond Asia. The non-fiction
category likewise includes 3 titles published in Asia, and 3 published
beyond Asia. The shortlist includes a mix of books by new and established
authors, of authors from all over Asia east of the Near West, and of men and women. Books represent a variety of
publishers.
The winner will be decided by voting,
with votes polled from the blog’s readers.
No money is at stake, and the winning
author will not receive a non-monetary prize, either. Instead of a glass
goblet, or whatever, the winning author will be invited to write, for no fee, and
preferably within a month of the award being made, a guest post highlighting the
work of any secular organisation promoting literacy within Asia.
If the winning title is a translation, either
the translator or the author may be invited to write the guest post, depending
on circumstances.
If the winning author does not want to
write a guest post, or is too busy to do so, this will not mean he or she forfeits the award.
So: the inaugural shortlist –
follow the links in red to see the relevant blog posts.
Fiction published within Asia
Bamboo Heart / Ann Bennet /
Monsoon, Singapore
A Madras Miasma / Brian Stoddart
/ Crime Wave Press, Hong Kong
The Book of Sins / Chen Xiwo,
translated from Chinese by Nicky Harman / Make Do Press, Hong Kong
Fiction published beyond Asia
Emperors Once More / Duncan
Jepson / Quercus, UK
The Incarnations / Susan Barker / Doubleday, USA
The Strangler Vine / M.J. Carter
/ Penguin, UK
Non-Fiction published within Asia
Tune in Tokyo: the Gaijin Diaries / Tim Anderson / Amazon Encore
The inaugural print edition of the Asian Review of Books / Peter Gordon (ed) / Chameleon, Hong Kong
The World War 1 in China series (collective
nomination) / various authors / Penguin China.
Non-fiction published beyond Asia
Mr Selden’s Map of China /
Timothy Brook / Profile, UK
Capital / Rana Dasgupta /
Canongate, UK
The People’s Republic of Amnesia
/ Louisa Lim / OUP, UK
How to vote
You can vote by leaving a
comment, by e-mailing asianbooksblog@gmail.com, by tweeting to the fledgling account #asianbooksblog, or by
messaging the Asian Books Blog Facebook page. If you think others in your
social networking groups would be interested in voting, then please prod them
to do so. Thanks. The winning title will be the one receiving the most votes.
