I’ve always loved books and reading, so it’s no surprise I’m an author and blogger. However, feeling strongly about justice and truth, I’ve also been active in the feminist and anti-racist movements. Additionally, I founded The Asian Women Writers Workshop (later known as the Asian Women Writers Collective), whose work has been archived by South Asian Diaspora Arts Archive (SADAA). I’ve been a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at several British universities and am a member of PEN International. As a writer of colour (South-Asian heritage), I'm intrigued by the work of diverse writers, their interpretation and focus.
I wrote...
The Coral Strand
By
Ravinder Randhawa
What is my book about?
The story moves between modern Britain and the glamorous and turbulent world of 1940s Mumbai. Once a year, Sita, a young British/Asian woman, goes to spy on Emily and Champa, the ‘guardians’ she’d run away from and on whom she’d taken a daring revenge. However, this year the past has started to crack and heart-breaking secrets begin to seep out, revealing connections and a fight for survival in which taboos were broken, forbidden lines crossed, and a victim trapped.
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The Books I Picked & Why
Brown Girl Like Me: The Essential Guidebook and Manifesto for South Asian Girls and Women
By
Jaspreet Kaur
Why this book?
Infused with passion and empathy, this book has much to offer. Tackling topics that are taboo or misunderstood; from mental health to menstruation, love and relationships, to micro-aggressions. The writer talks honestly about her own experiences and signposts solutions that have helped her, including other women’s insights, research, and information. Lively, positive, and life-affirming, this book will speak to many.
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Caste
By
Isabel Wilkerson
Why this book?
Masterful, profoundly humane, and impeccably researched. Wilkerson creates a light-bulb moment, by taking the Indian caste system and overlaying it onto the generational subjugation of Black Americans. This book doesn’t preach – it presents: gripping our hearts with real-life stories; haunting us with the unjust laws and social practices which have ensured inequality and poverty, no matter how hard black Americans worked. A poisonous system weakening and dividing the nation. Caste profoundly changes our personal understanding of American racism.
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The Return of Faraz Ali
By
Aamina Ahmad
Why this book?
A brilliant novel with more than one mystery at its heart, with more than one truth about human emotions. Beautifully written, unflinching in its depiction of corruption and cruelty; lyrical in its evocation of loss and longing, love and survival. Faraz Ali, a young Pakistani police officer is sent to Shahi Mohalla, the red-light district of Lahore, where a girl has been murdered: not to solve the crime, but to cover it up. However, Faraz Ali has his own tormented history with the Mohalla. And, unknown to him his dimly remembered sister, the beautiful and fiery Rozina, is facing the stark prospect of her own return. A fantastic read, the characters staying in the mind long after the book has been closed.
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1984 India’s Guilty Secret
By
Pav Singh
Why this book?
Some events are burned into the collective psyche. In 1984 in India, the world’s largest democracy, over 8,000 people were murdered in a four-day genocidal massacre, orchestrated by the government. This book is written in a measured tone, evidenced, and filled with witness accounts. The background is explained, the events are charted, and those who gave help and shelter are included. Over the decades, few of the guilty have been brought to account. The book becomes a drumbeat for justice.
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The Prosecutor
By
Nazir Afzal
Why this book?
We’ve all seen those movies about courtroom battles and a determined prosecutor, speaking up for innocent victims. In Nazir Afzal we have the real deal. Coming from a working-class, migrant family, he knows what it’s like for the powerless. As Chief Prosecutor he won milestone cases involving criminals, honour killings, domestic violence, human trafficking, and many others. This engrossing book takes us behind the scenes. Nazir Afzal is recognised as a man who changed British justice for the better.
