Behind the Shadows: Contemporary Stories by African and Asian Writers

 

My short story "Call Centre" has found a home. It is actually the first story in this new collection (October 1)  edited by Rohini Chowdhury and Zukiswa Wanner. Here is a press release:

 

MEDIA RELEASE : BEHIND THE SHADOWS

E-Launch Date: October 1, 2012 
Behind the Shadows, the anthology of African and Asian short stories will be launched electronically on Amazon at 12 GMT. The anthology is an idea born out of a meeting facilitated by the British Council at the London Book Fair in 2010 between Indian and South African writers, Rohini Chowdhury and Zukiswa Wanner.

In March 2011, Chowdhury and Wanner, with the objective of bringing together the two continents of Africa and Asia, sent out a call for short stories with the theme outcast, to be interpreted by the writers as they pleased. The writers could be from Africa or Asia, or in the Diaspora, but it was necessary that their stories deal with the theme as experienced by Africans and/or Asians.

Chowdhury and Wanner, who worked on this project as co-editors, went through hundreds of short stories to select the twenty-one that make up this anthology. The title, Behind the Shadows, is from one of the short stories in the collection by writer Tasneem Basha. The collection also includes Penguin-shortlisted author Isabella Morris; Caine Prize-shortlisted writer Lauri Kubuitsile; renowned Singaporean Young Artist Award recipient, author and poet, Felix Cheong; and emerging Indian writers Rumjhum Biswas, Monideepa Sahu, and Sucharita Dutta-Asane.

‘ In selecting the stories in this selection from the hundreds received, we hope to show how similar we are in our differences and to highlight to anyone who reads them that, Asian or African, we all have the capability to love, laugh, hate and cry,' said Chowdhury.

Rohini Chowdhury writes for both children and adults, and has more than twenty books and several short stories to her credit. She is published in both Hindi and English, and her writing covers a wide spectrum of literary genres including translations, novels, short fiction, comics, and non-fiction. Her most recent publication for children is Gautam Buddha: The Lord of Wisdom, a biography of the Buddha, published by Puffin India. Her most recent translation is that of the widely-acclaimed Hindi novel Tyagpatra by Jainendra, into English, published by Penguin India earlier this year. Her literary interests include translation, mythology, folklore, mathematics and history.

Zukiswa Wanner is the author of three critically-acclaimed novels and her latest novel, Men of the South was shortlisted for Commonwealth Prize for Best Book Africa region. She is the co-author of the Mandela house biography 8115: A Prisoner’s House with award-winning photographer Alf Kumalo. She has also written widely for international and African newspapers, journals, and magazines.