The shortlist for regional winners has been unveiled in the race to win the influential 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize.
The Prize is presented by the Commonwealth Foundation with support from the Macquarie Group Foundation. The final programme, starting on 7 April in Delhi, India will bring together the finalists from the different regions of the Commonwealth, and the two overall winners will be announced there on 12 April.
The Director of the Commonwealth Foundation, Mark Collins, said:
“The Commonwealth Writers’ Prize is distinct and unique in that the books that win often have strong insight, spirit and voice about the incredible diversity, history and society of the Commonwealth. The Prize aims to reward the best of Commonwealth fiction written in English and in doing so, spots rising talent and creates new literary figures from the Commonwealth. This is the Prize to watch for tomorrow’s best-sellers.

The regional winners shortlisted are:
Africa
The shortlisted writers for Africa’s Best Book are:
Trespass by Dawn Garisch (South Africa)
The Double Crown by Marié Heese (South Africa)
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)
Eyo by Abidemi Sanusi (Nigeria)
Tsamma Season by Rosemund Handler (South Africa)
Refuge by Andrew Brown (South Africa)
Kings of the Water by Mark Behr (South Africa)

The shortlisted writers for Africa’s Best First Book are:
I Do Not Come to You by Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani (Nigeria)
The Shape of Him by Gill Schierhout (South Africa)
The Shadow of a Smile by Kachi Ozumba (Nigeria)
Come Sunday by Isla Morley (South Africa)
Sleepers Wake by Alistair Morgan (South Africa)
Jelly Dog Days by Erica Emdon (South Africa)
Harmattan Rain by Aysha Harunna Attah (Ghana)

Caribbean and Canada
The shortlisted writers or the Caribbean and Canada Best Book are:
The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels (Canada)
February by Lisa Moore (Canada)
Euphoria by Connie Gault (Canada)
Goya’s Dog by Damian Tarnopolsky (Canada)
Galore by Michael Crummey (Canada)
The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon (Canada)

The shortlisted writers for the Caribbean and Canada Best First Book are:
Under this Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell (Canada)
Daniel O’Thunder by Ian Weir (Canada)
The Island Quintet: Five Stories by Raymond Ramchartiar (Trinidad)
Diary of Interrupted Days by Dragan Todorovic (Canada)
The Briss by Michael Tregebov (Canada)
Amphibian by Carla Gunn (Canada)

South Asia and Europe
The shortlisted writers for South Asia and Europe Best Book are:
Solo by Rana Dasgupta (Britain)
For Pepper and Christ: A Novel by Keki Daruwalla (India)
The Beijing of Possibilities by Jonathan Tel (Britain)
Heartland by Anthony Catwright (Britain)
Another Gulmohar Tree by Aamer Hussein (Pakistan)
The Immortals by Amit Chaudhuri (India)

The shortlisted writers for South Asia and Europe Best First Book are:
The Hungry Ghosts by Anne Berry (Britain)
Arzee the Dwarf by Chandrahas Choudhury (India)
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin (Pakistan)
Among Thieves by Mez Packer (Britain)
An Equal Stillness by Francesca Kay (Britain)
Tail of the Blue Bird by Nii Parkes (Britain)

South East Asia and Pacific
The shortlisted writers for South East Asia and Pacific Best Book are:
Summertime by J.M Coetzee (Australia)
A Good Land by Nada Awar Jarrar (Australia)
The Adventures of Vela by Albert Wendt (Samoa)
Singularity by Charlotte Grimshaw (New Zealand)
The People’s Train by Thomas Keneally (Australia)
Parrot and Oliver in America by Peter Carey (Australia)

The shortlisted writers for South East Asia and Pacific Best First Book are:
The Ice Age by Kirsten Reed (Australia)
After the fire, a still small voice by Evie Wyld (Australia)
Look Who’s Morphing by Tom Cho (Australia)
Document Z by Andrew Croome (Australia)
Come Inside by Glenys Osborne (Australia)
Siddon Rock by Glenda Guest (Australia)

Source: http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/news/news/detail.cfm?id=601

Books on sports will be the main attraction during the 19th New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF), being open on 30th January and will continue to 7th February. 700 titles based on different genres of sports of various countries will be exhibited during the Book Fair on the occasion of XIX Commonwealth Games 2010, Delhi.

According to Bipin Chandra of National Book Trust the theme of the book fair will be “Reading Our Common Wealth: An International Rights Exhibition of Books on Sports”. The book fair will be inaugurated by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal.

‘Dilli: kranti ke 150 varsh’ (150 years of Delhi’s struggle) has been selected for ‘Sahityik Kriti’ award by Delhi’s Hindi Akademy. The book has carefully given detailed description of Delhi during 1857 and presented a comparative study of present status of the capital city. The book was written by veteran journalist Aditya Awasthi.

According to Aditya Awasthi the book has details about how mutiny was started in Meerut and within 24 hours it reached to Delhi. How the battle continued between Indian and British forces as it took just three days to occupy throne from the British rulers. But British had to fight for about four months to recapture the Red Fort and over 55 thousand people were died in this first battle of Independence.

“At that time the population of Delhi was just 1.80 lakh and it was limited to the area which is known as walled city or old Delhi, a small part of present Delhi”, Awasthi told fachcha.com.
The book also talks about how areas like Mayur Vihar, Lyuten’s Delhi, CP and other areas formed in these 150 years. It is not just a historical book but a book about development of Delhi in the context of modern history and present urban planning.
The 255-page book published in 2007 and reprinted in 2008 by Samyik Prakashan.

Mushrooming unauthorized colonies, unplanned growth of the city and problem of resettlement and several other challenges are associated with the planning and development of a Mega City. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today released a book ‘Challenges for a Mega City’ written by former Principal Commissioner of Delhi Development Authority and city planner U S Jolly.

The book has tried to explore and examine opportunities and challenges of the Mega city. These include preservation of Yamuna, management of urban land and infrastructure and several others. Several city planners and other personalities were present on the occasion.

It is a rare book on eminent ghazal singer Mehdi Hassan. The 100-page book ‘Mere Mehdi Hassan’ on the legendary Pakistani ghazal singer tells everything about his life. The partition story of India and Pakistan, changing stream of Mehdi Hassan from classical vocal music to ghazal singing and many more about development of ghazal (& Mehdi Hassan) from classical vocal music to an independent stream of music.

If you will go by the book you would find that ghazal was earlier used to sing as a part of Thumari. Even Mehdi Hassan himself was nurtured in Dhrupad and khyaal. He is 16th generation of the Dhrupad gharana. Speaking to http://fachcha.com about it Akhilesh Jha, author of the book, says that the book contains rare photographs of the Mehdi Hassan and his family. It also tells story about difficult time and struggle of the noted singer and his rise. Jha, a 1996 batch officer of Indian Civil Account Services has penned several books, mostly on Indian history and indology. It is 16th book, written by Jha.

Through this book Akhilesh Jha has also tried to take an account of the impact of partition on Music, Radio and Film Industry of India and Pakistan. For the book release function family members and pupils of Ustad Mehdi Hassan are coming to India. Sajjad Mehdi, son of Mehdi Hassan is leading the delegation. Programmes are being organized in New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Mumbai for their warm reception on this occasion.