“Great books are always rewritten”
A message to all Asian authors from Nury Vittachi, in conversation with Varsha Verma.
Nury Vittachi is a journalist and author based in Hong Kong. His columns are published daily, weekly in a variety of newspapers in Asia as well as on his website. He is best known for the comedy-crime novel series The Feng Shui Detective, published in many languages around the world, but he has also written non-fiction works and novels for children. He is also known for his role in founding the Asia Literary Review, the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, the Man Asian Literary Prize, and was the chairman of the judges of the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, where he shares more about his love for books and the pleasure of being a judge for literary prizes.
Being a judge to many literary awards for more than a decade, what are the basic attributes he keeps in mind? “It is tough being a judge as every book is unique. Every organisation has their longlist and they have some key elements on which a book has to be judged, but I personally, do not go by those elements alone but love the enchantment and the magic in a book which makes you forget the world,” he replied. “We are soon launching a World’s Readers Awards in November in Hong Kong to honour the best book written in the world, which is dominated by Asia,” he informed. “Asians are becoming more and more assertive. There are so many literary awards where Asian authors cannot participate. It is ironical that the maximum numbers of internationally successful books are from West while the bulk of audience is in the East. The Asian book industry is growing. Hence, it is important to have an award where Asian writers can compete,” he told.
On asking about the standards of Asian authors, Nury replied, “Asian authors complain too much about the lack of good editors, agents and distributors. What is important is to write a fantastic book and all things will appear on their own. Asian writers are not very ambitious and they are not very keen on taking creative risk. In the west, authors take at least a year or two to complete one book and do 4-5 revisions before submitting it to the publisher. Great books are always rewritten.”
As a message to Asian authors, he concluded, “The world is ready for you to write great books.”
A message to all Asian authors from Nury Vittachi, in conversation with Varsha Verma.
Nury Vittachi is a journalist and author based in Hong Kong. His columns are published daily, weekly in a variety of newspapers in Asia as well as on his website. He is best known for the comedy-crime novel series The Feng Shui Detective, published in many languages around the world, but he has also written non-fiction works and novels for children. He is also known for his role in founding the Asia Literary Review, the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, the Man Asian Literary Prize, and was the chairman of the judges of the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, where he shares more about his love for books and the pleasure of being a judge for literary prizes.
Being a judge to many literary awards for more than a decade, what are the basic attributes he keeps in mind? “It is tough being a judge as every book is unique. Every organisation has their longlist and they have some key elements on which a book has to be judged, but I personally, do not go by those elements alone but love the enchantment and the magic in a book which makes you forget the world,” he replied. “We are soon launching a World’s Readers Awards in November in Hong Kong to honour the best book written in the world, which is dominated by Asia,” he informed. “Asians are becoming more and more assertive. There are so many literary awards where Asian authors cannot participate. It is ironical that the maximum numbers of internationally successful books are from West while the bulk of audience is in the East. The Asian book industry is growing. Hence, it is important to have an award where Asian writers can compete,” he told.
On asking about the standards of Asian authors, Nury replied, “Asian authors complain too much about the lack of good editors, agents and distributors. What is important is to write a fantastic book and all things will appear on their own. Asian writers are not very ambitious and they are not very keen on taking creative risk. In the west, authors take at least a year or two to complete one book and do 4-5 revisions before submitting it to the publisher. Great books are always rewritten.”
As a message to Asian authors, he concluded, “The world is ready for you to write great books.”
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