Every year hundreds of interesting and quirky books slip under our radar thanks to information overload. In this series, we highlight books published this year you may have missed that are worth a second look.

How much do we know about what really goes on behind the scenes at our local supermarket?

This forms the subject of journalist Tazeen Ahmed’s fascinating debut book The Checkout Girl, published this summer.
Continue reading…

Every year hundreds of interesting and quirky books slip under our radar thanks to information overload. In this series, we highlight books published this year you may have missed that are worth a second look.

Scottish doctor and author Suhayl Saadi published his third book this year, a fictional ‘magical realism’ story titled Joseph’s Box.
Continue reading…

Every year hundreds of interesting and quirky books slip under our radar thanks to information overload. In this series, we highlight books published this year you may have missed that are worth a second look.

Former journalist Puneet Bhandal published the first and second in a series of Bollywood themed fiction series.
Continue reading…

Author, poet and film-maker Nikesh Shukla has a short story collection in podcast form: titled Wham! Bam! Stories, Man!

Shukla says he was inspired by the oral tradition of griots and felt the podcast format was good instant and current way of bringing his voice to the world.
Continue reading…

Upcoming singer Gunjan, signed with Scottish producers Tigerstyle, is releasing her debut single this week.
Continue reading…

Asian broadcaster B4U Network celebrated a decade of operations in the country last week, with a small party in West London.

It airs two channels in the UK: B4U Moves and B4U Music.

CEO of B4U Network Sunil Rohra, said, “We are delighted to be celebrating 10 years of B4U here in the U.K. Over the past ten years B4U Network has expanded into different ventures and fulfilled our promise in providing complete Bollywood entertainment to a global audience.”

The new edition of the long-running fashion quarterly Asian Woman magazine hit newsstands this week. And this time it sported a different name in the editor’s page.

Continue reading…

Food writer and stylist Ravinder Bhogal’s debut book ‘Cook in Boots’ has won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for the UK’s Best First Cookbook.

She will challenge for the title of the World’s Best First Cookbook at the Paris Cookbook Fair on 11 February, 2010.

Ravinder said: “I am so delighted to have won this award as I am fully aware of how many excellent debut cookbooks were published this year.”
Continue reading…

The Independent on Sunday diary column reports:

She’s back: Farah Damji, the serial mistress, jailbird and perennial trouble-maker, once hailed London’s most dangerous woman, is holding a reading of her “explosive” autobiography on Wednesday [16th Dec].

Try Me came out in July but Damji was arrested on fraud charges soon after and has been busy defending herself in court ever since.

The book is chock-full of scandal, chronicling her claims to have had affairs with two high-profile figures – one an executive from The Guardian, the other a well-known travel writer – and even includes intimate email and text exchanges. Tom Cain, Gavin James Bower and Darcus Howe are lined up to read extracts at The Lamb on Holborn’s Lamb’s Conduit Street. Should be a big night out for the libel lawyers.

Continue reading…

Coming from a conservative family, Kia Abdullah (pictured) married a man she had met only once. But illustrating a determination that is become her defining characteristic, she walked out of the marriage after only two days.

That quiet determination also comes through in her writing; she’s the author of her second novel: a dark, sexual, often violent psychological crime thriller. We ask her about the book and whether it’s based on her tumultuous life.

You can also meet Kia at a book signing this Saturday 12th Dec. Details at the end.

What made you want to write this book?
I felt a lot of pressure to conform to the tradition of Asian writers writing about being Asian. Some beautiful books and stunning writing have come out of that tradition, but it has also been quite restrictive.

I felt that Asian writers couldn’t get published if they were writing sci-fi or horror or crime or any type of genre fiction; that it had to be sweeping literary novels or books linked to their heritage. I wanted to see if I could break through that. Luckily, I found an independent publisher that was brave enough to take on my project – one that didn’t say, “Let’s change Allegra’s name to Aisha”.
Continue reading…

The UK arm of the international agency Weber Shandwick this week announced it was focusing on public sector work by promoting its previous head of multicultural campaigns.

Rakhee Vithlani, currently running the agency’s Multi-Cultural Communications practice will look after its Government and Public Sector Campaigns division.
Continue reading…

Are you a talented, ambitious filmmaker with at least two years professional experience?

Have you reached a critical point in your career where high quality industry support would help you reach the next level?

Would a mentor’s expert guidance enable you to achieve your full potential?
Continue reading…