Kishwar in Costa shortlist

Nov 20, 2010 - Age Correspondent |

New Delhi

After making it to the 2009 Man Asian Literary Prize, Kishwar Desai’s Witness the Night has been shortlisted for the 2010 Costa Book Awards. Witness the Night, published by HarperCollins, is a mystery novel set in a small town in India and has female foeticide at the core of its plot.

Talking to this newspaper, Desai said, “I was pleasantly surprised. And thrilled. The shortlist will put a renewed focus on the issue of female foeticide. It remains a news item so far and nothing beyond that.”
Desai said that the shortlist, which also has Nikesh Shuklas Coconut Unlimited, Aatish Taseer’s The Temple-Goers and Simon Thirsk’s Not Quite White in the Costa First Novel Award category, has a strong “Asian flavour”.
She said, “It is wonderful for us. Asia is very much mainstream now. We are very much part of the global narrative.”

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