CONGRATULATIONS ALSO TO

The lovely Yasmine Gooneratne. Her novel The Sweet and Simple Kind has been nominated for the 2008 Dublin International IMPAC Literary Award.

And in double joy for her publishers, Ameena Hussein's novel The Moon in the Water has been long-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize.

Twenty-three candidates made the cut from 243 entries for the inaugural prize, exceeding the organisers expectations. What doesn't surprise me though is 11 Indian authors feature on the long list. Here's to more interesting times ahead.