Author Rashmita Patel has just published her second teenage novel – Web of Lies.

We ask her what makes her tick and why she likes writing books for teenagers.

What do you do other than write?

I work as a School Librarian. I have been working at Alumwell Business & Enterprise College for the last 14 years.

How did you first find the inspiration to write and what drove you to finish it?

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A new novel by writer Hema Macherla is published next month in the UK, after getting top billing on the chat-show Richard and Judy.

Breeze from The River Manjeera was picked as a finalist on the program’s book competition, reaching the final 26 out of 44,000 entries, an incredible achievement for a book written in the author’s second language.

Hema was was born in a village in the state of Andhra Pradesh, South India. She came to the UK in 1977 speaking very little English. She lives with her husband in London and has two grown up children.
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Earlier this year, the activist Zerbanoo Gifford published a book on the achievements of Asian women from across the world. Ms Gifford is the director of Asha Foundation and holds the Nehru Centenary award for her international work, championing the rights of women, children and minorities.

She made history by being elected as the first non-white woman Liberal councillor in 1982, and has stood three times for parliament and has been a member of the Home Secretary’s Race Relations Forum, and she has chaired the Commission, ‘Looking into ethnic minority involvement in British Life’.

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Getting into Publishing is Penguin Group’s annual open day for students and graduates, particularly those from ethnic minority backgrounds with an interest in Publishing, to learn more about opportunities at Penguin and in publishing.

The day consists of morning and afternoon presentations from senior employees of the company and a networking lunch in the afternoon where candidates have the opportunity to meet senior managers of the company.
Date: Thursday 20th November 2008; 10am – 2pm
Location: 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL
To attend: Please send a CV to gettingintopublishing@penguin.co.uk by 31st October 2008.

Two writers and a producer, including the British novelist William Dalrymple, are aiming to turn next year’s Jaipur Literature Festival into the event in India to rival the UK’s Guardian Hay Festival.
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A new publishing company going by the name of ‘Revenge Ink’ has launched in the UK to challenge the conventions of the mainstream, highbrow publishing industry by showcasing cutting-edge works from “subversive” new writers.

Two siblings – Amita and Gopal Mukerjee founded the company to “promote strong voices and take on emotionally driven and inspiring projects”, and to “encourage edgy ‘outside-the-box’ thinking”, they said.
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Celebrated rock photographer Peter Sanders has launched a collection of work showcasing the diversity and beauty of the Islamic world. Peter Sanders, who made his name photographing famous rock and roll icons of the 1960s, has launched “In the Shade of the Tree”, documenting his travels around the Middle East.

The book illustrates Sanders four decades of travels and captures the humanity of peoples often labeled by the West as either victims of circumstance or a threat to modern culture.
www.inspiralbooks.com

Sonny Kalar wants to be the Asian Guy Ritchie. Of writing, that is. He has self-published two novels and is working on his third, with more adult and children’s books planned.

AIM Magazine asked him a few questions.

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The Guardian newspaper reported yesterday that writer and media psychiatrist Raj Persaud is fighting to save his career:

One of Britain’s best-known psychiatrists began a battle to save his consultant’s job yesterday after admitting wholesale plagiarism in a book and articles which underpinned his celebrity media career.

Dr Raj Persaud sat quietly at a General Medical Council hearing as the scale of his profiting from “the hard work and scholarship of others” was catalogued and described as making him unfit to practise.

He was also accused of trying to blame subeditors for cutting out acknowledgments which had never existed. Jeremy Donne QC, counsel for the GMC, said that repeated dishonesty had been deliberately used to “enhance his professional reputation and standing with the public and the press”.

With her book, Making a Fortune – Learning from the Asian Phenomenon, recently published, author Spinder Dhaliwal writes to tell of the entrepreneurs who inspired it.

by Spinder Dhaliwal
Author

At the cutting edge of the British entrepreneurial community are Asian businesses. Asian wealth in the UK now is more diverse and crosses from first through to second and third generations.

This emerging and evolving Asian business community spans manufacturing, entertainment, fashion, hotels, property, food and pharmaceuticals.

Whilst programmes like the Apprentice and Dragon’s Den have popularised the brash go getting entrepreneur, in reality it is hard work, perseverance and true grit that has seen the Asian business community flourish in the UK.
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Manju Malhi is an British chef and food writer, specialising in Anglo-Indian cuisine. She was raised in North West London where she grew up surrounded by Indian culture, traditions and lifestyles.

She came to prominence in 1999 when she won a competition to find a guest chef for the BBC’s Food and Drink programme and cooked with Antony Worrall Thompson on the show.

What is the Easy Indian Cookbook?
Easy Indian Cookbook is basically what it says on the tin. It’s a spiral bound book of recipes that are simple to follow. It is a book for those who have never dabbled in India cuisine but have wanted to try out and experiment. I have really had to go back to basics with the recipes because the book is also for the American and the Australian market.
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Sathnam Sanghera was born to Punjabi parents in the West Midlands in 1976, attended Wolverhampton Grammar School and graduated from Christ’s College, Cambridge with a first class degree in English Language and Literature in 1998.

His weekly Business Life column appears in The Times on Saturdays and he also reviews cars for Management Today magazine. His first book, If You Don’t Know Me By Now, is published by Penguin in Spring 2008 He lives in South London.

This is an exclusive interview with the young writer on the subject of his book.
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Nikita Lalwani’s multiple award nominated debut novel Gifted has been turned into a drama for BBC Radio 4. The drama serial will broadcast in the mornings next week.

Its cast will include Archie Panjabi, Sadia Ghaffar, Nina Wadia and Sagar Arya.
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Wrier and former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg was awarded the ‘Published Writer of the Year’ award at the Muslim Writers Awards event last week.
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The annual Muslim Writers Awards will take place this Saturday, 29th March, at the ICC in Birmingham, to celebrate the breadth and quality of British Muslim literary talent. Now in its second year, the event is being supported by the Prime Minister’s office and will be broadcast on Islam Channel.

MWA 2008 will recognize the work of 26 writers across eight categories, with the ‘Writer of the Year’ award presented by Jermaine Jackson at the event.
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Saqi and Arts Council England (ACE) are hosting a celebration of the their Positive Action Trainee (PAT) scheme at the London Book Fair this year. Speaking at the event will be Simon Juden from the Publishers Association.
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Three British women organisers – Kavita Bhanot, Ayesha Siddiqi and Shazia Nizam – have sent a letter to Indian newspapers to protest at their treatment over the Mumbai based literary festival: Kitab. They are now asking British literary personalities to reconsider lending support to the event.

In their letter, they said: “[W]e feel that we were misled by Pablo Ganguli and are very disappointed by his behaviour prior to, during, and subsequent to the festival. We urge you to express your disapproval for this unjust behaviour; to email Pablo on the address above and not to lend your support to Kitab 2008.”

“Lastly, we would like to apologise to all the participants who were also left inconvenienced and disappointed by Kitab 2007 – those who were cancelled on at the last minute, those that were misled, and those who were given lower priorities than their British counterparts – and we assure you that we expressed our concerns about all these factors throughout.”

The three allege that they had been communicating with Mr Ganguli, another British Asian, for the past 12 months, requesting full salaries but to no avail. They say they were forced to pay for expenses out of their pocket and had not been able to claim those expenses back.
More at Hindustan Times

In comments to The Guardian newspaper, Pablo Ganguli is denying all the accusations.

The third decibel Penguin prize is calling for new writing that explores the experience of having a mixed heritage. The prize, organised by the Arts Council subsidary aimed at increasing diversity in publishing, is a collaboration with Penguin Books. The judges – who include Shami Chakrabarti and Kate Mosse – will be looking for true stories that illuminate the complexities, challenges and joys of having a mixed heritage.

Entries must be non-fiction, however they can be first-person accounts, or about another person’s experience. The competition is open to writers from any background. It was created to discover original writing talent while offering new authors an opportunity to showcase their work. The winning entries will be published in a Penguin anthology in November this year.
More information.

‘Getting into Publishing’ is Penguin Group’s annual open day for students and graduates, particularly those from ethnic minority backgrounds with an interest in Publishing, to learn more about opportunities at Penguin and in publishing.

It takes place this year on Thursday 22nd November 2007.

It’s a brilliant opportunity for students and graduates, particularly those from ethnic minority backgrounds, to find out all about Penguin and more about a career in Publishing. The day consists of morning and afternoon presentations from senior employees of the company and a networking lunch in the afternoon where candidates have the opportunity to meet senior managers of the company.

Date: Thursday 22nd November 2007
Time: 10-2:00pm
Location: 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL

To attend: Please send a CV to gettingintopublishing@penguin.co.uk by 31st October 2007.

Revealing themselves as never seen before, actors from the Channel 4 show and the BBC radio station have been transformed into movie monsters for a specially commissioned Halloween photo-shoot for Ikonz magazine.

As part of the horror-themed feature, cast members from Hollyoaks have been pitched against presenters from the BBC Asian Network to see which of the celebrity teams can pull-off the most ghastly and gruesome recreations of classic horror film characters.

The celebrity special features popular Hollyoaks stars Kevin Sacre and Sam Darbyshire as infected zombies from 28 Days Later, BBC Asian Network presenters Sonny Ji and Dipps Bhamrah as Dracula and Frankenstein and BBC disc-jockey Noreen Khan and Hollyoaks hearthrob Ricky Whittle in the guises of a Wicca Goth-Chick and Satan respectively. Also thrown into the mix are Ikonz editors Reena Combo as a Vampiress and Adam Yosef as The Crow.

The feature is presented as a 9-page special, in the Halloween issue of Ikonz magazine, out on stands on October 9th. The souvenir edition features a special double cover.

The US based Masala Trois Collective is inviting submissions – short fiction and verse – for their upcoming collection of South Asian children’s stories, Adventures in Desiland. Like all well crafted children’s stories, across eras and traditions, they hope the stories in Adventures in Desiland will engage and delight adults and children alike.

Submission may include retelling ancient tales, such as those found in the Panchatantra, using contemporary dialogue and idiom. Similarly, submissions that creatively “Indianize” or desify well known western children’s stories would fit nicely in the collection. Other original submissions will be considered, variously, on how skillfully they feature strong, central characters that are South Asian children, present fresh, non-stereotypical portraits of South Asian families, or help children and parents creatively explore South Asian histories.
Deadline: December 1, 2007
See: www.masalatrois.com

The unexpected success of the fantasy novel Conspiracy of Calaspia, written by two teenage twins, has inspired an international essay competition based on the novel. Limited to entrants born on or after January 1, 1982, it is asking for essays up to a 1,000 words long. Creativity and originality are the criteria on the basis of which entries will be judged.

The winning ten essayists will be taken from their nearest international airport for a 10-day literary tour of the UK from July 16th – 26th 2008, and will have a partial scholarship to participate in the Triennial Summer Institute of the C. S. Lewis Foundation from July 27-August 9: a week each at Oxford and Cambridge (UK).
More details: www.calaspia-competition.com
More on the Guptara twins who wrote the book.

Launched this week, The Asian Writers Project (TAWP) is a new project thats aims, by providing a platform to promote Asian writers and their work, to inspire the next generation of British Asian writers. Each month their website will feature the very best of Brit Asian Literature; the authors and their books. Regular features include forthcoming events, opportunities, prizes and information on creative writing courses.

This month TAWP features Mohsin Hamid, the author of Mothsmoke and most recently The Reluctant Fundamentalist, about his personal journey as a writer. Priya Basil talks about Ishq and Mushq, her brilliant debut novel. They also catch up with Imran Ahmad to discuss Unimagined, the story about his life growing up in the West.

Submissions from new and emerging writers are now being invited to feature on the website next month.
www.theasianwriter.co.uk

Henna’s marriage to Ricky-Rashid was achieved through an audacious web of lies as elaborate and brazen as the golden embroidery on her scarlet wedding sari…Ricky is soon to realise his bride is not in fact who he thought she was. As Ricky and Henna tolerate their loveless marriage of convenience, the way is paved for a future of deception.

Born in Pakistan, brought up in London, and now living in South West France with her husband and son, Bitter Sweets is Roopa Farooki’s debut novel. She worked in advertising as Worldwide Account Director for Saatchi & Saatchi and now J Walter Thompson.

The book has been shortlisted for the Orange Award for New Writers 07. It will be published by Pan in Paperback on 2nd August 2007.
Media contact: Kate Eshelby

Writer Preethi Nair, author of Gypsy Masala, 100 Shades of White and Blue Indigo, will be presenting a story-telling workshop next week in London. The event will aim to help people learn how to write a short story , to think more creatively and communicate more effectively.

Saturday 16th June; 10am – 4:30pm; Waterstones, Picadilly, London. It will cost £60 per person and all proceeds will be donated to Multiple Sclerosis charities. To book or find out more email: maria@kissthefrognow.com or go to: preethinair.com