WILL WE INHERIT THE EARTH?

Not by the looks of it.

World Wide Web of Words - the panel of literary blogs which brought together old friends and new faced tough competition. The contest was from Bei Dao. The Chinese poet was exiled in 1989, his award-winning work has been translated into 25 languages and he has been repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. There were queues snaking all the way to the entrance of the Arts House.

The Blue Room may have been packed, but there was no trouble at all right across, in The Living Room. We started off with about 12 people in attendance and would have ended with an audience of anything between 20-25. For those of you who spared your time, I hope it was useful.

Ivan aka the Rambling Librarian was busy punching stuff and I did for a moment think he was live blogging. Turns out he was taking notes. Wish I was that smart.

I was too busy hearing the stories. Isolation, connectivity, content, how the online world made us one happy community, I knew Sharon, the blogger way before Sharon the person. With Zafar, it was the other way round and Ivan, whose blog I hadn't discovered till before the panel discussion was a real revelation. It's one of my must reads now and as it always happens when bloggers sit together, there are so many more places to visit and learn from.

I have been inspired along the way by many, many insightful bloggers. As always, I was quick to roll the credits.

Sharon remains one of my inspirations. It's wonderful to see her move into the top 20 list of Malaysia's top bloggers, to see her and her blog quoted extensively. When you watch her in action, see her eyes light up when she delves into stirring thoughts, arguments, you know why she is up there with the very best.

It's always nice to sit Zafar down for a chat. It was isolation, he said, that drove him to the world of blogging and it sure has helped him break his silence and form a community of friends in Singapore and beyond.

Ivan's already explained his side of the story. If you haven't visited his blog yet, book mark it and read the rest of the stimulating blogging conversation there. We'll all be happy to repeat it real time, should there be enough listeners out there.

P.S.: Was running the spell check. Found out bloggers isn't recognised. The alternatives are:
- Blogger
- Loggers
- Floggers
- Blockers
- Logger's

Take your pick.

COMMONWEALTH WRITERS PRIZE

Sharon's done a comprehensive post on this. We've exchanged a couple of emails, she's kindly posted my comments on her blog.

You possibly know the categories and the short-list already. If not, its all here.

In terms of South Asian writing, I'm delighted to see Vikram Chandra and Yasmine Gooneratne in the shortlist but I am dismayed by the categorisation.

If Africa can be a category unto itself why not South Asia? Is our writing not competitive enough, not good enough or simply not enough?

What's even more confounding about the categorisation is the clubbing of South Asia with Europe. I could understand a South Asia/South-East Asia club, 'Europe and South Asia' beats me.

So while we get the token representation through Chandra and Gooneratne, if you were to look the 'Best First Book' shortlist, its entirely dominated by entries from Britain. Seriously?

The Saffron Kitchen, by Yasmin Crowther (UK) Abacus/Little Brown
The Mathematics of Love, by Emma Darwin (UK) Headline/Review
This Time of Dying, by Reina James (UK) Portobello
Giraffe, by J M Ledgard (UK), Jonathan Cape
Londonstani, by Gautam Malkani (UK), Fourth Estate
In the Country of Men, by Hisham Matar (UK), Viking
The Amnesia Clinic, by James Scudamore (UK), Harvill Secker

Again delighted to see Hisham Matar, not sure of the rest.

Judging our writing this year are esteemed folks from this panel. They are literary forces to reckon with it, but was it really that difficult to get South Asian or South-East Asian representation on this panel?

At a time when you know who is dominating the lit lists, this prize for one calls for a serious re-look. Giving some thought to its categories could just be the start.