The Asian Age,6 April 2010
C’wealth literary gala begins in Delhi today
New Delhi , The countdown to the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (CWP) begins as authors from seven countries descend on New Delhi for the six-day-long literary extravaganza that kickstarts with a creative writing workshop at the Bal Bharati Public School, Pitampura, on Wednesday.
A series of events at different venues across the city will bring together the regional winners — Nigeria’s Adaobi Tricia Nwaubeni, the winner of the African region in the Best First category for I Do Not Come to You by Chance, Marie Heese, the winner from South Africa in the Best Book category for The Double Crown; Canada’s Shandi Mitchell, the winner of the Caribbean and Canada region in the Best First Book category for Under This Broken Sky and Canada’s Michael Crummey, the winner from the same region in the Best Book Category for Galore; Daniyal Mueenuddin, the winner from South Asia and Europe in the Best First Book category for In Other Rooms, Other Wonders and Rana Dasgupta, the winner from the same region in the Best Book category for Solo; Glenda Guest, the winner from Southeast Asia and Pacific in the Best First Book category for Siddon Rock and Samoa’s Albert Wendt, the winner from the same region in the Best Book category for The Adventures of Vela.
CWP’s final programme, according to Mita Kapur, CEO, Siyahi, the literary consultancy that is handling the event, “comes in conjunction with India being the host country for the Commonwealth Games”. She says: “It’s a matter of pride for us to be able to do this here.”
The two winners in the Best Book and Best First Book categories will be announced by the minister of state for external affairs, Shashi Tharoor, at the India International Centre on April 12.
“A prize like this, which has the gravitas and literary dignity attached to it, will obviously catapult the book and the author into a space which will make for reaching out to larger global audiences,” says Kapur.