Asian Books Blog runs its own
literary award: The Asian Books Blog Book of the Lunar Year. The winner, for the
Year of the Ram / Goat, now drawing to a close, will be announced on February 7,
Chinese New Year’s Eve for the upcoming Year of the Monkey.
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, especially in the many countries within the region with limited publishing industries.
Books are eligible if they are both reasonably
new, and if they featured in Asian Books Blog during the given lunar year –
this because news of new books sometimes takes a while to trickle through to
Asia. Anthologies are eligible. Reissues are not eligible.
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 a maximum of 15
books, divided into 5 categories: traditionally published fiction from within Asia; traditionally published fiction from beyond Asia;
traditionally published non-fiction from within Asia; traditionally published non-fiction from beyond Asia; self-published. Each category includes up to 3 titles.
Self-published titles are eligible in eBook
format. Traditionally published titles must be available in a physical format,
either hardback, or paperback.
The shortlist is intended to
include a mix of books by new and established authors, of authors from all over
Asia excluding 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. Instead of
a prize, the winning author will be invited to write 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. (No fee will be offered for the guest post.)
So: the shortlist for the Year of the Ram / Goat...follow the links to the blog's coverage of each title.
Fiction published within Asia
Nine Cuts: short stories / Audrey
Chin / Math Paper Press, Singapore
The Curious Corpse / Nick Wilgus
/ Crime Wave Press, Hong Kong
Tales of Two Cities: Hong Kong and Singapore / Anthology / Ethos Books, Singapore
Fiction published beyond Asia
A House Called Askival / Merryn
Glover/ Freight Books, UK
Little Aunt Crane / Geling Yan translated
from Chinese by Esther Tyldesley / Harvill Secker
Griffith Review 49: New Asia Now
/ Anthology / Text Publishing, Australia
Non-Fiction published within Asia
Brunei: From the Age of Commerce to the 21st Century / Marie-Sybille de Vienne / NUS Press, Singapore
Adrift / David T. K. Wong / Epigram
Books, Singapore
No third title
Non-fiction published beyond Asia
The Burma Spring / Rena Pederson
/ Pegasus, USA
The Boy with a Bamboo Heart /
Chantal Jauvin with Dr. Amporn Wathanavongs / Maverick House, Ireland
A Brief History Of Indonesia: Sultans, spices and tsunamis / Tim Hannigan / Tuttle, USA
Self-published
Back Kicks and Broken Promises /
Juan Rader Bas / self-published with Abbott Press, USA
Freedom of the Monsoon / Malika
Gandhi / UK
Tiger Tail Soup: a novel of China at war / Nicki Chen
How to vote
Please vote for only ONE title –
books on the shortlist are presented in different categories to ensure a representative
spread of titles on and from Asia, but there is intended to be only ONE winner, from across
all five categories. The winner will be the title receiving the most votes. Voting will close at 9 a.m., Singapore time, on February 7.
You can vote by leaving a comment
below, or by:
E-mailing asianbooksblog@gmail.com
Tweeting #asianbooksblog
Messaging the blog via Facebook
If you think others in your
social networking groups would be interested in voting, then please prod them
to do so. Thanks.
Books featured between now and
CNY
Books featured between now and
February 7 will be eligible for the award in the upcoming Year of the Monkey.
