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March 07, 2005

Discover Great New Writers

Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers Awards have been announced. I'm particularly pleased about three of these winners. Michelle de Kretser's novel, The Hamilton Case, is a fascinating multi-layered tale set in Sri Lanka, about a murder, a mystery, a court case, a family, and a dying loyalty to colonial powers, among other things. De Kretser herself is a Sri Lankan-Australian author, and I think she's done a fabulous job with this complex and lyrical book. I recommend it highly.

Suketu Mehta I've met a few times; he's smart, charming, and I enjoyed what I heard him read from Maximum City enough that I bought a large hardcover edition that I'd had no intention of buying when I walked into the store. Haven't read it yet, because I'm a bit intimidated by the size, but lots of my friends have enjoyed it.

I'm even more pleased about Alison Smith's Name All the Animals, even though I haven't read it yet (and it has no desi content). In my other life, I run the Speculative Literature Foundation, celebrating science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, ghost stories, etc. and so on -- anything with a fantastic or speculative element. Alison was the winner of our very first Fountain Award, given for her wonderful short story "The Specialist", published in McSweeney's. I recommend it to you all.

I also note that if you're a desi writer who works in speculative literature, do take a moment to point your magazine and anthology editors to the Fountain Award. If they nominate you and you win, there's $1000 in it for you. :-) Desi writer Vandana Singh is on this year's jury.

Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers Awards

Nonfiction

First Prize: Name All the Animals by Alison Smith
Second Prize: Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta
Third Prize: Blue Blood by Edward Conlon

Fiction

First Prize: Heaven Lake by John Dalton
Second Prize: The Hamilton Case by Michelle de Kretser
Third Prize: How the Light Gets In by M.J. Hyland

Posted by Mary Anne Mohanraj at March 7, 2005 06:47 AM

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Posted by: Anonymous at March 7, 2005 06:47 AM

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