Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Preeta on Commonwealth Shortlist!

The Commonwealth Writers Prize shortlists for the South-East Asia/South Pacific region have been announced, and Preeta's nominated for Best First Book Award!!!!!!

We send our biggest congrats and loudest Malaysia Boleh shouts!

The list :
Best Book Award: South East Asia and the South Pacific :
  • Between the Assassinations -Aravind Adiga (India/Australia)
  • The Spare Room -Helen Garner (Australia)
  • The Good Parents - Joan London (Australia)
  • Forbidden Cities -Paula Morris (New Zealand)
  • The Slap -Christos Tsiolkas (Australia)
  • Breath -Tim Winton (Australia)
Best First Book Award: South East Asia and the South Pacific :
  • The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga (Australia)
  • The Boat - Nam Le (Australia)
  • The Year of the Shanghai Shark -Mo Zhi Hong (NZ)
  • Misconduct -Bridget Van der Zijpp (NZ)
  • Evening is the Whole Day - Preeta Samarasan (Malaysia)
  • The Shallow End Clouds of Magellan - Ashley Sievwright (Australia)
But you'll note that she's up against some stiff competition. The White Tiger was the 2008 Booker Prize winner, and Nam Le's The Boat won the Dylan Thomas Prize.

More about the prize and the finalists in other regions later ... just wanted to hit you with this news first.

26 comments:

Chet said...

Congrats, Preeta!!!

Anonymous said...

Echoing Chet ... Congrats, Preeta!
And good luck!

-Jen

Amir Muhammad said...

woop woop!

Anonymous said...

woohooooooooo! tahniah! syabas!

Anonymous said...

ho-hum. yaaawwwwwwnnnnn.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Preeta!

- Tan Twan Eng

Borneo Expat Writer said...

Congrats, Preeta! Finally some serious recognition for your efforts beyond our shores! Now your publisher can splash that all over all future editions! As a writer that's nothing to yawn about! No ho hum either; it's hi ho, hi ho, off to work we go...

Kak Teh said...

Congratulations Preeta!! I got the news in my email too!

Anonymous said...

Thanks everyone! Anon, shall I come tuck you in for a nap?

-- Preeta

Anonymous said...

Wow, so witty.

" shall I come tuck you in for a nap?"

Wow. What a comeback. I bet no one else could have thought up such a reply, only a syioklisted writer like you.

Wow.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Preeta! Am so over the moon for you!Keeping fingers (and toes) crossed.

saras

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much, Saras!

And I think I shall dedicate my next book to my precious Anonymouse, whose transparent jealousy spurs me to greater and greater heights :-) . I never have such a good writing day as when I come here and sip his delicious pettiness. If only my teachers at school had known how to keep me working hard like this, I might have just had an A in Add. Maths....

-- Preeta

Anonymous said...

... and ... how many books did you sell?

Anonymous said...

She's sold more books than you have, Anonymous.

- Annoynymust

Anonymous said...

Yeah, and she also sold more books than the kuey tiau seller, the janitor and the bus driver. and your point is ...?

Anonymous said...

Good to know where you see yourself Anonymous. Your mother must be so proud of what slipped out between her legs when she gave birth to you.

Anonymous said...

Not only are you shameless enough to personally attack other people's mothers, you're also incredibly stupid in insulting kuey tiau sellers, janitors and bus drivers.

So, writing a stupid book like your novel makes you better than hardworking working class folks, huh?

I say, bring it on! Let's see if you can shoot off all 10 of your own toes.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous seem to be fighting with himself now. Wait, maybe this is another post by him, too.

Anonymous said...

Um, just for the record, not a single one of these Anonymous messages is by me -- I'm sure Sharon has IP addresses to prove it if you want. I haven't been sitting here posting about kuay teow sellers, janitors, or bus drivers. I've never posted an anonymous message in my life.

Good night! Sleep well, my sweet Anonymouse.

-- Preeta

Anonymous said...

A syioklisted writer, avoiding the question of how many books she actually sold. Need I say more?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous -- why don't you look it up yourself? I don't actually know. I haven't been interested enough to find out; that's not why I write. But if you do take the time find out, feel free to post the figures here. I'm sure other people are curious too, and they would appreciate your efforts.

bigs hugs and peace
Preeta

Anonymous said...

"that's not why I write"

Yeah, sour grapes.

Anonymous said...

And please don't hug me, idiot.

Anonymous said...

I'll hug whomever I please, darling! Nothing you can do to stop me, except perhaps shutting up, sweetheart.

Enormous hugs,
Preeta

Anonymous said...

Your wit is as effective as a primary schoolgirl's. You really should stop embarrassing yourself further. Remember, you're a syioklisted writer, you know, internationally published, people the world over read you. You have a high public profile. It would really make people wonder why an internationally acclaimed writer could spend so much time at a blog leaving comments and picking fights and making unprovoked personal attacks. What would people say? It's already bad enough that they're not buying your book.

Anonymous said...

Sweetness, I appreciate your concern, but why don't you let me worry about all that? I seem to be getting quite enough done anyway, despite my second job as official bee in your bonnet. I've always been good at multitasking :-) . As for "unprovoked personal attacks," kindly show me where and when I've made them. I'm positively quaking with fear. Nothing strikes as much terror in my heart as an Anonymouse afraid to use his own name.

Massive, monstrous, ripe-as-peaches hugs,
Preeta