The DSC and Impac Dublin longlists
The Sly Company of People Who Care on two longlists, one much longer than the other.
The Economist Crossword Book Award 2011
And the nominees are . . .
Writers pick one each on Cricinfo. I go with the clean bowled.
On Damon Galgut’s beautiful novel. A very short piece for Outlook Traveller‘s Classics section.
Why Pakistanis are warmer than Indians
Ajaz Ashraf in Daily Times
‘It was happenstance I completed reading Pundits from Pakistan, Rahul Bhattacharya’s magisterial account of the Indian cricket team’s tour of Pakistan in the spring of 2004, two days before the recent announcement of resumption of cricketing ties between the two neighbours . . .’
For Intelligent Life magazine
As women’s boxing joins the Olympics, Rahul Bhattacharya profiles the phenomenal Mary Kom—five-times world champion and mother of two—who has had to battle against far more than just her opponents in the ring…
Winner, 2012 RSL Ondaatje Prize
The Sly Company of People Who Care has won the 2012 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize for ‘a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place.’
“This picaresque story, funny, tough and romantic, swerves around all kinds of inner and outer landscapes and offers unforgettable vignettes of a host of characters. He has invented a beautiful and original language, mixing street poetry and sharply sensual poetry.”
Shortlisted, the 2012 RSL Ondaatje Prize
The Sly Company of People Who Care is shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s Ondaatje Prize, which is for a ‘book of the highest literary merit – fiction, non-fiction, poetry – evoking the spirit of a place’. I used to think the prize was named for Michael; but it’s for his brother, Christopher, explorer, writer, bob-sledder and philantropist.
An essay I did for the new edition of Sachin: Genius Unplugged, Westland books, edited by Suresh Menon.
‘A hundred international hundreds, split almost evenly between Tests and one-dayers, tells us something about his all-encompassing range, of watchful first mornings and exhilarating floodlit nights, of victories seized or defeats delayed, of white and blue, of Cape Town and Sharjah . . . It matters because, as with Grace, it hadn’t been considered possible. Indeed, it hadn’t been considered at all.’
The Sly Company of People Who Care is shortlisted. Writers on their books here.