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Priya Basil

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Priya Basil (born 1977 in London, England) is a British author.


Her first novel, Ishq and Mushq, was published in 2007 [1]. It came second in the World Book Day "Book to Talk About 2008" [2] competition. The novel was also short-listed for a Commonwealth Writers' Prize [3], and long-listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize [4] and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award [5]. Ishq and Mushq was translated into Dutch [6], Portuguese [7], Russian [8] and Serbian [9].

Her second novel, The Obscure Logic of the Heart [10], was published in June 2010.


Personal Life

Priya grew up in Kenya, returning to the UK to study English Literature at the University of Bristol. She had a career in advertising before becoming a full time writer. She lives currently in London and Berlin.

Priya believes that we need to change the culture of giving in a world that contains both great affluence and extreme poverty. She signed Peter Singer's Pledge mentioned in the 7 steps to solving world poverty as presented in his 2009 book The Life You Can Save [11]. If everyone who can afford to contribute to reducing extreme poverty were to give a modest proportion of their income to effective organizations fighting extreme poverty, the problem could be solved.

Bibliography

  • Ishq and Mushq (Hardback ISBN: 0385611420, Paperback ISBN: 0552773840)
  • The Obscure Logic of the Heart (Trade Paperback ISBN: 0385611455)


Videos

  • Priya Basil On Reading and Writing [12]
  • Priya Basil "Heart - Bite"-Quotes The Obscure Logic of the Heart [13]


Reviews

  • Brinda Bose on Ishq and Mushq, India Today (26.3.2007) "Spice Route to Soul" [14]
  • Margaret Forster on Ishq and Mushq: "Priya Basil has something all of her own, an emotional intensity and flashes of imagination. She is anyone’s equal. I greatly admired and enjoyed this novel." [15]
  • Eve Lucas on The Obscure Logic of the Heart, ExBerliner (June 2010): "Basil's maturity as a writer is newly reflected in characters whose emotional, ideological and political lives are closely intertwined-redolent of the complex personalities created by writers such as C.P Snow and Evelyn Waugh... Basil spans a large canvas of well observed and entirely credible third world nepotism against which Lina's work for a better world appears as a cry in the desert. Woven into the bigger picture are many small, luminous threads of conversational snippets, situational snapshots, the humdrum of life lovingly seen and recorded. The micro- and the macrocosm are bound together by all that happens in between and above all, in-between people. The book flows at all levels, but here, for me, is Basil's true strength: her interest in people, her sympathy with them, and the way she brings this to bear on her narratives." [16]
  • David Hebblethwaite on The Obscure Logic of the Heart, Follow the Thread (June 2010): "What makes Priya Basil’s second novel so interesting is the complexity of the scenario it presents. One can imagine this kind of story being treated rather simplistically (as, for example, a tale of the heroic lovers striving to overcome all the obstacles life places in their way), but Basil doesn’t do that – all her characters face difficult questions, and there are no easy answers. (...) Basil’s novel is a good read purely in terms of its plot, as she manages several times to wrong-foot the reader over what will happen (or has happened). Yet there’s so much more here besides, and it all makes The Obscure Logic of the Heart very satisfying to read." [17]


Articles

  • Shanghai City Weekend Editor "emilyc"'s Live-Blog on Ishq and Mushq [18]
  • Priya Basil on Pushing the Limit, Chronicles, Crossing Border Festival, The Hague (November 2007) [19]
  • Spotlight Interview, Spotlight Magazine (June 2008) [20]
  • Found in Translation, Essay by Priya Basil, Asia Literary Review, Spring 2008 [21]
  • My Home is Our Castle, Essay by Priya Basil, Heat 22, Giramondo Publishing, Sydney, Spring 2010 [22]


Notes

  1. ^ [1] Transworld (Publisher)
  2. ^ [2] Book to Talk About 2008
  3. ^ [3] Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2008
  4. ^ [4] Dylan Thomas Award 2008
  5. ^ [5] IMPAC Award 2009
  6. ^ [6] Arena (Publisher)
  7. ^ [7] Nova Fronteira (Publisher)
  8. ^ [8] ACT (Publisher)
  9. ^ [9] Books & Marso (Publisher)
  10. ^ [10] Transworld (Publisher)
  11. ^ [11] The Life You Can Save
  12. ^ [12] PriyaBasilChannel, YouTube, 21.2.2010
  13. ^ [13] PriyaBasilChannel, YouTube, 10.5.2010 etc.
  14. ^ [14] India Today, 26.3.2007
  15. ^ [15] Dipnet.org, 2007
  16. ^ [16] ExBerliner, June 2010
  17. ^ [17] Follow The Thread, June 13 2010
  18. ^ [18] Shanghai City Magazine, 8.3.2008
  19. ^ [19] Crossing Border Festival, November 2007
  20. ^ [20] Spotlight Magazine, June 2008
  21. ^ [21] [22] ALR, Spring 2008, No. 7, Page 171-178, Hong Kong
  22. ^ [http://giramondopublishing.com/heat/ Heat 22, Spring 2010, Sydney


References

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