Friday, March 12, 2010

Pakistani writer qualifies for final stage of C’wealth Writers’ Prize

LAHORE: After months of anticipation, the winners for ‘best book’ and ‘first best book’ from the South Asia and Europe region have been announced: Pakistani writer Daniyal Mueenuddin, along with Britain’s Rana Dasgupta, will now go through to the final stage of the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in April.

Dasgupta’s book ‘Solo’ and Mueenuddin’s ‘In Other Rooms, Other Wonders’ would go head to head with regional winners from Africa, Caribbean and Canada and South East Asia and Pacific to compete for the global prizes.

In its 24th year, the critically acclaimed Commonwealth Writers’ Prize has a strong track record of discovering new international stars.

Presented by the Commonwealth Foundation with support from the Macquarie Group Foundation, the prize’s final programme, starting on April 7 in New Delhi, would bring together the finalists from various regions of the Commonwealth, and the two overall winners would be announced there on April 12.

The director of the Commonwealth Foundation, Mark Collins, said, “The level of entries this year has been absolutely outstanding ... I would like to congratulate Rana Dasgupta and Daniyal Mueenuddin in getting through to the final stage, and I look forward to welcoming them to India.”

Macquarie Group Foundation’s regional chair, Muneeza Shamsie said, “The judges were impressed by the quality of the submissions, our shortlists revealed their range and diversity, but two winning entries were particularly outstanding.” staff report

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

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