Bare Lit

Kavita Bhanot · Courttia Newland · Mend Mariwany

Apr 2017 · Brain Mill Press

About this ebook

A fiction and poetry anthology in support of the Bare Lit Festival, showcasing award-winning British authors of color.In 2016, a group of UK authors of color founded the Bare Lit Festival: the first ever literary and author festival featuring only UK writers of color. Bare Lit collects short stories and poetry by literary luminaries whose work represents the values and mission of the festival. Edited by Kavita Bhanot, editor of Too Asian, Not Asian Enough, Courttia Newland, author of The Gospel According to Cane, and Bare Lit Festival cofounder Mend Mariwany, all proceeds of this anthology go toward direct support of the Bare Lit Festival for authors of color.

About the author

Kavita Bhanot is a writer, editor, teacher, activist based between India and England. Her fiction, nonfiction, and reviews have been published widely in anthologies, magazines, journals, newspapers, and online forums, including Media Diversified, Round Table India, and The Independent. Her short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She is editor of the anthology Too Asian, Not Asian Enough (Tindal Street Press 2011) and the forthcoming Book of Birmingham (Comma Press, 2017). She has a PhD from Manchester University in Creative Writing and Literature, has taught at Manchester University and Fordham University, and is a reader and mentor with The Literary Consultancy.

Courttia Newland is the author of seven works of fiction including his debut, The Scholar. His latest novel, The Gospel According to Cane, was published in 2013 and has been optioned by Cowboy Films. He was nominated for the Impac Dublin Literary Award and the Frank O’Connor Award, the CWA Dagger in the Library Award, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and the Theatre 503 Award for playwriting, as well as numerous others. His short stories have appeared in many anthologies and been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. In 2016, he was awarded the Taner Baybars Award for science fiction writing and the Roland Rees Bursary for playwriting. He is associate lecturer in creative writing at the University of Westminster and is completing a PhD in creative writing.

Mend Mariwany is a writer, editor, and cultural curator with an MA in Postcolonial Theory from Goldsmiths, University of London. He was born in Iraq and was raised in Germany before moving to the UK, where he cofounded Bare Lit Festival in 2016. Mend has organised arts events and storytelling performances and worked with a range of magazines, including Muftah, Media Diversified, and Skin Deep. He is currently based in London where he is working on his debut collection of poetry and prose.