Narratives

Romesh Gunesekera was born in 1954 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He grew up in Sri Lanka and the Philippines, moving to England in 1971. He gained an Arts Council Writers' Award in 1991. Reef (1994), his first novel, won a Yorkshire Post Book Award (Best First Work) and was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize for Fiction and the Guardian Fiction Prize.

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Anjali Joseph was born in Bombay in 1978. She read English at Trinity College, Cambridge, and has taught English at the Sorbonne. More recently she wrote for the Times of India in Bombay and was Commissioning Editor for ELLE (India). She graduated from the MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia in 2008. Her first novel, Saraswati Park, was published by 4th Estate in 2010; it won the Betty Trask Prize, Desmond Elliott Prize, and Vodafone Crossword Book Award for Fiction in India. Another Country, her second novel, was published in June 2012.

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Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a performance poet, writer and sociocultural commentator, born in the UK, in 1974, and raised in Ghana.

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Kerry Young was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to a Chinese father and mother of mixed Chinese-African heritage. She came to England at the age of ten. Kerry has a long history of non-fiction writing and editing on issues relating to youth work and young people including ‘The Art of Youth Work’ and numerous professional publications as well as chapters and articles in academic books and journals. She has Master’s Degrees in Organization Development and Creative Writing and a PhD in youth work.

Kerry’s first novel Pao, set in Jamaica, was published by Bloomsbury and Bloomsbury US in 2011. It was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, East Midlands Book Award and Commonwealth Book Prize. The paperback was published in April 2012. Kerry’s second novel (Bloomsbury) is called Gloria. The name of the book is taken from one of the main characters from her first novel Pao.

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Romesh Gunesekera author of Reef

Romesh Gunesekera was born in 1954 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He grew up in Sri Lanka and the Philippines, moving to England in 1971. He gained an Arts Council Writers' Award in 1991. Reef (1994), his first novel, won a Yorkshire Post Book Award (Best First Work) and was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize for Fiction and the Guardian Fiction Prize.

Buy the novel here (Amazon)

Anjali Joseph author of Saraswati Park

Anjali Joseph was born in Bombay in 1978. She read English at Trinity College, Cambridge, and has taught English at the Sorbonne. More recently she wrote for the Times of India in Bombay and was Commissioning Editor for ELLE (India). She graduated from the MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia in 2008. Her first novel, Saraswati Park, was published by 4th Estate in 2010; it won the Betty Trask Prize, Desmond Elliott Prize, and Vodafone Crossword Book Award for Fiction in India. Another Country, her second novel, was published in June 2012.

Buy the novel here: Amazon  WHSmith

Nii Ayikwei Parkes author of Tail of the Blue Bird

Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a performance poet, writer and sociocultural commentator, born in the UK, in 1974, and raised in Ghana.

Buy the novel here: Amazon  Foyles

Kerry Young author of Pao

Kerry Young was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to a Chinese father and mother of mixed Chinese-African heritage. She came to England at the age of ten. Kerry has a long history of non-fiction writing and editing on issues relating to youth work and young people including ‘The Art of Youth Work’ and numerous professional publications as well as chapters and articles in academic books and journals. She has Master’s Degrees in Organization Development and Creative Writing and a PhD in youth work.

Kerry’s first novel Pao, set in Jamaica, was published by Bloomsbury and Bloomsbury US in 2011. It was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, East Midlands Book Award and Commonwealth Book Prize. The paperback was published in April 2012. Kerry’s second novel (Bloomsbury) is called Gloria. The name of the book is taken from one of the main characters from her first novel Pao.

Buy the novel here: Amazon  Bloomsberry