(Inter)National Novel Writing Month

Part writing boot camp, part rollicking party, this November USA-based National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which is actually an international event, celebrates its 18th year of encouraging novelists to get cracking, through the largest writing event in the world.

Indie spotlight: Tabby Stirling

Indie Spotlight is Siobhan Daiko’s monthly column on self-publishing. This month Siobhan offers a platform to indie author Tabby Stirling.

Tabby now lives in Scotland with her husband, two children and a beagle, but she was previously an expat in Singapore. She has had several flash and short stories published in Spelk fiction, Camroc Fiction Press, Literary Orphans, Mslexia and others.

Tabby recently signed with Unbound, a UK-based literary crowdfunding publisher, for her novel Blood on the Banana Leaf. This shines a light on the maid abuse that came to her attention whilst she was living in Singapore. It explores how women cope in the most demeaning of circumstances.

Over to Tabby…

The Sellout by Paul Beatty wins Man Booker Prize for Fiction

The Sellout by Paul Beatty  has won the 2016 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The Sellout is published by small independent publisher Oneworld, who had their first win in 2015 with Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings.

Questions & answers: Alexandra Curry

About Alexandra Curry: Alexandra is a Canadian-born author of Austrian and British parentage. She has lived in Asia, including in Singapore and Taiwan, in Europe, and in Canada. Her current home is in the United States. She says: “No doubt about it, my background has been shaped by several cultures, and the way I see the world is very much informed by the way these cultures have blended together for me.” She has worked as a teacher, model, banker and accountant.  The Courtesan is her first novel.

Just quickly...

I'm very pleased that The Elephant Bar, a short story I wrote for Illustrated London News / Raffles Magazine  is now online.  Never mind the words, I LOVE the illustrations. Click here to see them! The story is set in colonial-era Siem Reap, and concerns an ingénue mixing it with a mysterious Russian photographer...

Sunday Social

Sundays used to be for lounging with the papers, now they are just as likely for lounging with iPads. So if you're lazily clicking around looking for something to read, here are a few suggestions, focussing on what's going on lit-wise in Asia.

Asia Literary Review and English PEN

English PEN in association with the Asia Literary Review has just announced a terrific opportunity for translators and writers in East and South-East Asia - a new translation project and award, PEN Presents East and South-East Asia.