Sunny Singh (writer)

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This article is about the writer. For other people, see Sunny Singh.

Sunny Singh
Sunny Singh at the Jhalak Prize Award 2022.jpg
Singh awarding the Jhalak Prize Awards for 2022
Born (1969-05-20) 20 May 1969 (age 54)
TitleProfessor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts
Academic background
Alma materBrandeis University
Jawaharlal Nehru University
University of Barcelona
Academic work
InstitutionsLondon Metropolitan University

Sunny Singh (born 20 May 1969) is an academic and writer of fiction and creative non-fiction. She is Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts at London Metropolitan University.

Early life and education

Sunny Singh was born in Varanasi, India. Her father's work with the government meant that the family regularly moved, living in cantonments and outposts including Dehradun, Dibrugarh, Along and Teju. The family also followed her father's assignments abroad, living in Pakistan,[1] the United States and Namibia.

Singh attended Brandeis University where she majored in English and American Literature. She holds a master's degree in Spanish Language, Literature and Culture from the Jawaharlal Nehru University and a PhD from the University of Barcelona, Spain.[2]

Career

Singh worked as a journalist and management executive in Mexico, Chile, and South Africa before returning to India in 1995 to focus on writing. She worked as a freelance writer and journalist until 2002 in New Delhi, publishing her first two books in that period. She moved to Barcelona in 2002 to work on her PhD and published her second novel in 2006.

Before her appointment as Professor in 2020, Singh was Senior Lecturer and Course Leader in Creative Writing at the London Metropolitan University.[3]

Singh is the Chairperson of the Authors' Club. In 2016, Singh co-founded the Jhalak Prize for Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour. The award supports British writers with a one-thousand pound prize. It was initiated by Singh, Nikesh Shukla and Media Diversified, with support from The Authors’ Club and funds donated by an anonymous benefactor.[4] Judges of the prize include Nikesh Shukla, Anita Sethi, Kerry Young, and Roy McFarlane. Previous winners include Guy Gunaratne (In Our Mad and Furious City, 2019), Reni Eddo-Lodge (Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race, 2018), and Jacob Ross (The Bone Readers, 2017).

In mid-2021 she, with Monisha Rajesh and Chimene Suleyman, received racist abuse on social media as a result of raising concerns about depictions of autism and of students of colour in Kate Clanchy's book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me.[5] Rajesh characterised some of Clanchy's prose as "dehumanising", "racist", "anti-Black", "antisemitic" and "more like something a eugenicist might observe than a trusted teacher".[6]

Literary works

Singh has published three novels, two non-fiction books and numerous short stories and essays.

Singh's debut novel, Nani's Book of Suicides, won the Mar De Letras Prize in Spain in 2003.[7] Her latest novel, Hotel Arcadia, was published by Quartet Books.

Books

  • Nani's Book of Suicides, HarperCollins Publishers India (2000) ISBN 978-81-7223-397-6
  • Single in the City, Penguin Books Australia (2000) ISBN 978-0-14-100024-4
  • With Krishna's Eyes, Rupa & Co (2006) ISBN 978-81-291-0966-8
  • Hotel Arcadia, Quartet Books (2015) ISBN 978-0704373792
  • Amitabh Bachchan, British Film Institute (2017) ISBN 978-1844576319

Personal life

Singh lives in London.

References

  1. ^ Singh, Sunny (23 May 2018). "Indian Culture in an Era of Global Transformations" (PDF). The Centre for Australian and Transnational Studies. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  2. ^ "Sunny Singh". thesusijanagency.com.
  3. ^ "London Metrolpolitan University – Sunny Singh". londonmet.ac.uk.
  4. ^ "Jhalak Prize - Book of the Year by a Writer of Colour". Jhalak Prize. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  5. ^ Campbell, Lucy (10 August 2021). "Kate Clanchy to rewrite memoir amid criticism of 'racist and ableist tropes'". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  6. ^ Rajesh, Monisha (13 August 2021). "Pointing out racism in books is not an 'attack' – it's a call for industry reform". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  7. ^ Yaniz, Juan Pedro (28 June 2005). "La India eterna es presentada por la mirada de Singh en reciente novela". abc.es (in Spanish).

External links

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