Sunny Singh | |
|---|---|
 Singh in 2023 | |
| Born | 20 May 1969 Varanasi, India |
| Alma mater | Brandeis University Jawaharlal Nehru University University of Barcelona |
| Occupation(s) | Academic and writer |
| Known for | Co-founder of the Jhalak Prize |
Sunny Singh FRSL (born 20 May 1969) is an Indian-born academic and writer of fiction and creative non-fiction. She is Professor of Creative Writing and Inclusion in the Arts at London Metropolitan University.
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 Jawaharlal Nehru University and a PhD from the University of Barcelona, Spain. [2]
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 was the Chairperson of the Authors' Club for some years. 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, an anonymous donor, and the Jhalak Foundation [4] which is owned by Singh's family and named after her grandmother. [5] In 2020, a sister award, the Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize, was founded.
Singh wrote in Twitter in 2020: "I get regular invites to debate on various platforms. I always say no. Because debate is an imperialist capitalist white supremacist cis heteropatriarchal technique that transforms a potential exchange of knowledge into a tool of exclusion & oppression.” [6] [7]
In 2021, Singh, along 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. [8]
In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. [9]
Singh has published three novels, three 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. [10] Her novel, Hotel Arcadia, was published by Quartet Books. Her latest book, A Bollywood State of Mind, was published on 19 October 2023 by Footnote Press (part of Bonnier Books [11]
Singh lives in London.
Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil of Lönneberga, Karlsson-on-the-Roof, and the Six Bullerby Children, and for the children's fantasy novels Mio, My Son; Ronia the Robber's Daughter; and The Brothers Lionheart. Lindgren worked on the Children's Literature Editorial Board at the Rabén & Sjögren publishing house in Stockholm and wrote more than 30 books for children. In 2017, she was calculated to be the world's 18th most translated author. Lindgren had by 2010 sold roughly 167 million books worldwide. In 1994, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "her unique authorship dedicated to the rights of children and respect for their individuality." Her opposition to corporal punishment of children resulted in the world's first law on the matter in 1979, while her campaigning for animal welfare led to a new law, Lex Lindgren, in time for her 80th birthday.
Mary Dorcey is an Irish author and poet, feminist, and LGBT+ activist. Her work is known for centring feminist and queer themes, specifically lesbian love and lesbian eroticism.
Dame Hilary Mary Mantel was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, Every Day Is Mother's Day, was released in 1985. She went on to write 12 novels, two collections of short stories, a personal memoir, and numerous articles and opinion pieces.
Catherine Johnson FRSL is a British author and screenwriter. She has written several young adult novels and co-wrote the screenplay for the 2004 drama film Bullet Boy.
Mona Singh is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films and series. Having first gained prominence in 2000s for playing the eponymous heroine in the soap opera series Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin (2003–06), she has since appeared in several other television and film roles. Singh is the recipient of two Indian Television Academy Awards.
Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo is a British author and academic. Her novel Girl, Woman, Other jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, making her the first Black woman to win the Booker. Evaristo is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and President of the Royal Society of Literature, the second woman and the first black person to hold the role since it was founded in 1820.
Sarah Ladipo Manyika FRSL is a British-Nigerian writer of novels, short stories and essays and an active member of the literary community, particularly supporting and amplifying young writers and female voices. She is the author of two well-received novels, In Dependence (2009) and Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun (2016), as well as the non-fiction collection Between Starshine and Clay: Conversations from the African Diaspora (2022), and her writing has appeared in publications including Granta, Transition, Guernica, and OZY, and previously served as founding Books Editor of OZY. Manyika's work also features in the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.
Kate Clanchy MBE is a British poet, freelance writer and teacher.
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Nikesh Shukla FRSL is a British author and screenwriter. His writing focuses on race, racism, identity, and immigration. He is the editor of the 2016 collection of essays The Good Immigrant, which features contributions from Riz Ahmed, Musa Okwonga, Bim Adewunmi, and Reni Eddo-Lodge, among others. With Chimène Suleyman, he co-edited the 2019 follow-up collection called The Good Immigrant: 26 Writers Reflect On America.
Chimene or ChimèneSuleyman is a writer from London of Turkish Cypriot descent, who has written on the politics of race and immigration in media including The Guardian, The Independent, the BBC and NPR, and co-edited The Good Immigrant USA in 2019.
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