500 Words From PP Wong

500 Words From...is a series of guest posts from authors, in which they talk about their books and characters.  Here, PP Wong, apparently the first British-born, ethnically-Chinese novelist to be published in the UK, discusses her debut novel, The Life of a Banana.

The Chinese slang word banana refers to ethnically Chinese people who are yellow on the outside, white on the inside – in other words, heavily westernised. PP Wong’s main character, Xing Li, is a banana on the brink of adolescence. Although born and raised in London, she never feels she fits in there, especially after her mother dies and she goes to live with her grandma, and her strange Uncle Ho. In order to find her own identity, Xing Li must first negotiate cultural and generational conflicts, whilst discovering what it means to be both British, and Chinese.

So: over to PP Wong…

This Week in Asian Review of Books

Asian Books Blog is not a review site.  For reviews see Asian Review of Books. Here is a round-up of their latest reviews.

Farzana: The Woman Who Saved an Empire by Julia Keay reviewed by Nigel Collett
The Architect’s Apprentice by Elif Shafak reviewed by Peter Gordon

Gender on the Edge: Transgender, Gay and Other Pacific Islanders by Niko Beshier and Kalissa Alexeyeff (eds.) reviewed by Vaughan Rapatahana
The Bling Dynasty by Erwan Rambourg and China’s Super Consumersby Savio Chan and Michael Zakkour reviewed by Jack Maher

Writers in Taiwan

Raelee Chapman, our indie correspondent, is seeking out the vast and varied writing communities across Asia, here she chats with Mark Chapman, (no relation) organiser of Writers in Taiwan.

When and why was Writers in Taiwan formed?

Writers in Taiwan is 1.5 years old and now has over 150 members. I formed Writers in Taiwan to meet more writers, find people interested in critiquing and simply for interest and support.

Lion City Lit: Woolf Works

Asian Books Blog is based in Singapore.  Lion City Lit explores literary life in our own backyard.  This week Raelee Chapman visits Woolf Works, a coworking space dedicated to women, and named after Virginia Woolf, who famously declared, in her extended essay A Room of One's Own, that women must have a space of their own to produce art. 

Where does a woman go to write if she cannot write at home? There are myriad reasons why writing at home can be complicated, and full of distractions. So I was curious when a writer friend of mine told me about Woolf Works, and I went along to an open day - a chance for women to bring their moleskin notebooks and laptops and explore the space.

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:

Cat Town, poetry by Sakutaro Hagiwara, translated by Hiroaki Sato reviewed by Jennifer Wong
Meltdown in Tibet: China’s Reckless Destruction of Ecosystems from the Highlands of Tibet to the Deltas of Asia by Michael Buckley reviewed by Sinead Ferris
Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East by Gerard Russell reviewed by Peter Gordon 
Letters from Hong Kong: The sound of silence by Jeffrey Wasserstrom

New & Notable: International & Regional

International: The Book of Gold Leaves by Mirza Waheed

In an ancient house in the city of Srinagar, Faiz paints exquisite papier mache pencil boxes for tourists. Evening is beginning to slip into night when he sets off for the shrine. He looks up to see the girl with the long black hair.

Roohi has been waiting for him. She wants a love story. And so it begins.

An age-old tale of love and conflict, within families, between worlds, The Book of Gold Leaves is a heart-breaking tale of what might have been, what could have been, if only.

DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Shortlist Announced

The shortlist for the fifth annual DSC Prize for South Asian Literature was announced at the London School of Economics and Political Science late last week. 

A dynamic mix of books made the cut. The shortlist of five features: two authors of Indian origin, Jhumpa Lahiri (The Lowland - Vintage Books / Random House, India) and Shamsur Rahman Faruqi (The Mirror of Beauty - Penguin Books, India); Pakistani authors Bilal Tanweer (The Scatter Here is Too Great - Vintage Books / Random House, India) and Kamila Shamsie (A God in Every Stone - Bloomsbury, India); and Sri Lankan born British writer Romesh Gunesekera (Noontide Toll - Hamish Hamilton / Penguin, India).