Sunny Singh: Refuge: Stories of War (and Love)

Join us for the launch of Sunny Singh's short story collection, Refuge: Stories of War (and Love) (Footnote Press). Sunny will join us for a reading followed by a conversation with poet and University of York Writer in Residence, Anthony Capildeo. Sunny is a writer, and a celebrated change-maker across the literary and publishing world. In addition to her new book, Sunny will discuss publishing and prize culture, including her work launching the Jhalak Prize for writers of colour in 2017.

Sunny Singh is the author of three novels, including the brilliant and critically recognised Hotel Arcadia, and three works of nonfiction, including Amitabh Bachchan for the BFI Film Stars series, and A Bollywood State of Mind: A Journey into the World’s Biggest Cinema.

In 2017, she launched the urgently-needed Jhalak Prize (named for her grandmother), inspired to make a positive intervention in the state of the books industry. This inspirational award highlights new, high-quality publications by writers of colour in the UK and Ireland, across the genres of Children’s & Young Adult writing, Poetry and Prose. Furthering the founding vision of the prize, Sunny publishes the bi-annual Jhalak Review, which showcases excellent criticism and original work. The Jhalak Review is circulated with every issue of the industry standard magazine, The Bookseller.

Born in Varanasi, Sunny currently lives in London where she is Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts at London Metropolitan University.

Spanning decades and continents, her latest book Refuge turns its lens on those who are often overlooked in stories about war: women and children, civilians forced out of their homes in terror, those who wait for their brave soldiers to come home, and soldiers who commit unspeakable violence. This powerful story collection simultaneously delves into the darkest parts of the human psyche whilst being an ode to humanity’s ability to endure, love and retain dignity and compassion.

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