Tearne and Doshi longlisted for Orange Prize
Two South Asian writers have been longlisted for the prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction 2011 which was announced last week. Indian writer Tishani Doshi’s novel The Pleasure Seekers and Sri Lankan born Roma Tearne’s The Swimmer have both made the longlist, along with 18 other titles.
Tearne’s novel is set in a small backwater town in Suffolk, where the 43-year-old Ria lives alone in a cottage. Her life is jolted with she begins a passionate affair with a young Sri Lankan doctor seeking political asylum in Britain. Tearne’s own family fled to the UK when she was only 10 years old. She has lived in the UK ever since and worked as an artist, filmmaker and writer. The Swimmer is her fourth novel.
Doshi on the other hand is based in Madras and is a successful poet and journalist. The Pleasure Seekers is her first novel, and is a fictionalised account of her parents’ marriage, which traces the story of a girl from North Wales who meets and falls in love with a boy from Madras. Doshi is currently working on a biography of the Sri Lankan spin-bowler Muthiah Muralitharan.
The Orange Prize for Fiction is the UK’s only annual book award for fiction written by a woman, and any woman writing in English is eligible. Previous winners include Zadie Smith, Barbara Kingsolver Marilynne Robinson and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
The shortlist will be announced on 12 April, and the winner of the £30,000 prize will be unveiled at the awards ceremony on 8 June.
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