Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif nominated for Commonwealth prize

Islamabad, Mar 1 (ANI): Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif, author of 'A Case of Exploding Mangoes', has been shortlisted for the 2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for the Best First Book from Europe and South Asia.

Other nominations for Best First Book are Sulaiman Addonia for 'The Consequences of Love', Daniel Clay for 'Broken', Joe Dunthome for 'Submarine', and Murzaban F Shroff for 'Breathless in Bombay', reports The Daily Times.

Professor Makarand Paranjape from India, Dr Durre Sameen Ahmed from Pakistan and Dr Alex Tickell from UK chaired the judging panel for the Europe and South Asia region.

The two Europe and South Asia regional winners will be announced on 12th March.

They will go on to compete with the other six finalists from Africa, Canada and the Caribbean, South East Asia and the South Pacific for the overall Best Book and Best First Book award.

The two overall winners, chosen by an international panel of six judges coming together in New Zealand, will be announced on 16th May at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival (AWRF).

Each of the regional winners will receive 1,000 pounds and in addition be invited to take part in a week-long series of community events and public readings alongside the final judging in New Zealand, culminating in the announcement of the two overall winners for Best First Book and Best Book.

The overall Best Book winner will receive 10,000 pounds and the overall Best First Book winner will receive 5,000 pounds.

The six contenders for the Best Book Award are Salman Rushdie, Jhumpa Lahiri, Chris Cleave, David Lodge, Shashi Deshpande and Philip Hensher.

The Commonwealth Writers' Prize is organised and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation with the support of the Macquarie Group Foundation.

The prize, now in its 23rd year, celebrates cutting-edge fiction across the four regions of the Commonwealth: Africa; Canada and the Caribbean; Europe and South Asia and South East Asia and the South Pacific. (ANI)