Dust

An image from the original Tindal Street Press
author submissions call for the collection

I am very happy to announce, as at Nov 2011, that an original short story of mine, entitled Dust, is now published in an anthology by the peerless and fearless Tindal Street Press. Dust marks my return to serious literary fiction after 11 years away while I was concentrating on presenting, criticism and travel and documentary writing. It's a serious, longform story - too serious for me to summarise it here - and was five years in the making. Have I mentioned how serious it is? The book is up on Amazon, looking great. The page can be viewed here and the collection has been given a clear and fair review by novelist Patrick Neate here in the FT. It has also been covered well, in a precise and analytical piece, by Sarfraz Manzoor here in the Guardian. Both critics singled Dust out, Neate saying "There are some terrific stories here..[Nikesh Shukla's contribution is ace] and Bidisha's Dust, a tale of smalltown pederasty, is smart and affecting." Manzoor was generally sceptical about the collection, but celebrated two "flashes of promise" which include Dust, "an involving tale showing how violence can hide behind apparent normality." Be warned, there is a picture of me looking like Spiderman (blue and red? Why, fashion fairy, why?) at the top of the piece. The Economist have run a very interesting interview with anthology editor Kavita Bhanot here (be warned, the site takes ages to load) and Dust was one of the two stories namechecked, critically neutrally.

I have been so touched by the response to Dust that I did the rare (for me) thing of writing a comment on the Guardian's site, underneath the review. This is what I said:

"Hello, this is Bidisha. I am pretending that photo is not there ("look, Mommy, I'm Spiderman!" "Get down from there and help me with these bags.")

I wanted to say, publicly, thank you for this rich, engaging and attentive review, which is constructive in its comments, thought-provoking and precise in its analysis and vitally connected to a wider debate. It's the best kind of sceptical review, leaving the reader free to decide whether Too Asian is for them.

Dust took five dedicated years to write and marks my return to fiction after an 11 year absence. That early success feels like a lifetime ago and writing fiction is agony for me. I cannot express the trepidation and sheer gripping core-level terror which lay behind the story, both in the serious subject matter and its construction as a work of art. I also cannot express the joy, relief and immense gratitude I now feel to see that it has been well-received. I polished every word and comma of Dust a thousand times. I knew when I handed it in that it was the best thing I had ever written and that I could do no better, however it fared at the other end. Thank you.

I'm biased, but I hope you do buy Too Asian and find it entertaining and inspiring. The front cover of a syrup-oozing jalepi on a stick should be worth the cover price alone."

And now, the anthology blurb...

Too Asian, Not Asian Enough is a collection of new contemporary fiction by British Asian writers including Anjali Joseph, whose excellent debut novel Saraswati Park I was lucky to cover on The Strand. Too Asian breaks the stereotypes surrounding perceptions of today's British Asian writing - so, arranged marriages, magical realist jungle creatures, inter-generational culture clashes, jihadists versus moderate Muslims and 'how I became a terrorist' narratives are out... thank goodness.

Final cover of Too Asian...