Highlights of Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2016 By Lucía Damacela

The thirteenth edition of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival, one of Southeast Asia’s leading literary events, concluded this October 30^th. Over five days, around 170 authors, artists and performers from more than 20 countries took centre stage, the largest contingent being from Indonesia and Australia.

Published Today: Intruder In Mao’s Realm by Richard Kirkby

Intruder In Mao’s Realm, by British academic Richard Kirkby, provides an insider’s view of China in the final throes of the Cultural Revolution and its immediate aftermath.  

Social Sunday

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.

(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.