Oldest UK prize for Bangladesh origin writer

Debut author Zia Haider Rahman has won Britain's oldest literary awards, the James Tait Black Prize for his novel "In the Light of What We Know", his publishers said yesterday.
The Bangladesh-origin author joins a distinguished list of writers like D H Lawrence, Graham Greene, Angela Carter and Ian McEwan to have won the Prizes, awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh since 1919, reports PTI.
The book, which won the best work of fiction for the year 2014, took home a prize money of 10,000 pounds.
"The award was announced on August 17 by broadcaster Sally Magnusson at the Edinburgh International Book Festival," publishers Pan Macmillan, who published the book under the Picador India imprint, said in a statement yesterday.
"Zia Haider Rahman addresses a whole range of issues - the war in Afghanistan, the rise of Muslim fundamentalism and the banking crisis. Moreover, he also explores problematic areas of politics and finance, which are often exiled from the pages of fiction, immersing his readers, dauntingly but comprehensibly," Chairman of the James Tait Black Prize for fiction, Professor Randall Stevenson of the University of Edinburgh said.
"The novel's impressive scope is complemented by Rahman's ability to locate the personal in the political," he said.

Oldest UK prize for Bangladesh origin writer

Debut author Zia Haider Rahman has won Britains oldest literary awards, the James Tait Black Prize for his novel In the Light of What We Know, his publishers said yesterday. The Bangladesh-origin author joins a distinguished list of writers like D H Lawrence, Graham Greene, Angela Carter and Ian McEwan to have won the Prizes, awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh since 1919, reports PTI. The book, which won the best work of fiction for the year 2014, took home a prize money of 10,000 pounds. The award was announced on August 17 by broadcaster Sally Magnusson at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, publishers Pan Macmillan, who published the book under the Picador India imprint, said in a statement yesterday. Zia Haider Rahman addresses a whole range of issues - the war in Afghanistan, the rise of Muslim fundamentalism and the banking crisis. Moreover, he also explores problematic areas of politics and finance, which are often exiled from the pages of fiction, immersing his readers, dauntingly but comprehensibly, Chairman of the James Tait Black Prize for fiction, Professor Randall Stevenson of the University of Edinburgh said. The novels impressive scope is complemented by Rahmans ability to locate the personal in the political, he said.