THIS WEEK


Country Focus: Scotland Opinion


I am pleased to say that the idea of the new prize has met with an overwhelmingly positive response, but as we prepared to launch it and gather submissions, challenges emerged. None of the publishing houses could give me a breakdown of how many writers of colour have been published by them—even in 2020.


Leela Soma


The writer explains why she launched the Kavya Prize, which will recognise writers from Scotland’s ethnically diverse communities


Eyes on the prize A


I did some research, and discovered that UK-wide,


writers of colour are still struggling to make it to the bookshelves. As quoted in The Bookseller in February 2021: “Representation of people from Black, Asian and minorit ethnic groups in the publishing industry has ‘stalled’ at a static 13% for the past three years, according to the Publishers Association’s latest annual workforce survey. Representation of people from BAME groups has not changed since 2017.” The Scotish BPOC Writers Network (then the Scotish BAME Writers Network) conducted a survey in 2020 with EDI Scotland, and the results were clear: overwhelmingly, members felt discriminated against by publishers, at festivals and by the writing communit*. In response to these urgent and persistent issues,


I wanted to do something positive to celebrate the achievements of Scotish writers of colour and encourage and inspire new generations of authors. So I founded the Kavya Prize, a new literary award worth £1,000, presented in association with the Universit of Glasgow, for writers of colour in Scotland. We aim to encourage, celebrate and champion published work by Scotland’s ethnically diverse communities. Kavya(काव्य) is a popular and well-recognised word in Sanskrit, referring to a literary stle or a completed body of literature used in Indian courts of the Maharajahs, who nurtured the cultural arts in India.


22 18th February 2022


When I asked Publishing Scotland (which has been doing a huge amount to encourage writers of colour) if there is somewhere I can check to see how many books by writers of colour are published in Scotland, I was told: “We have asked the question in the most recent member survey and, of course, our members do not represent the whole Scotish scene—many writers of colour based in Scotland are published by London-based publishers, for example. There is a wide range of publishing in our membership and the answer varied from 1% to 20%.” I hope that the Kavya Prize will help address some of these issues by raising awareness with all involved in the literary scene in Scotland.


s an avid reader and a teacher, when I arrived in Glasgow from India in 1969, I headed straight for the bookshops. Immediately, I became aware of a huge void. There were hardly any books writen by Scotish writers of colour. Now, as a published poet and novelist, I see how diverse and exciting the literary talent in Scotland is. But last year, when my new novel Murder at the Mela was released, I found it siting alone on the shelves. It seemed that work


by my contemporaries still wasn’t being celebrated and supported in ways that might encourage other new writers, and new Scots, to tell their stories.


We aim to encourage, celebrate and champion published work by Scotland’s ethnically diverse communities


Changing times There is will to support change. I must mention the generosit of the anonymous donor funding the prize. Without their offer, it would remain a dream in my mind. In addition to the benefactor, Zoe Strachan at the Universit of Glasgow’s Creative Writing department not only welcomed my initial enquiry about establishing this prize but is very enthusiastic and working hard to get the Kavya Prize off the ground. Moniack Mhor, Scotland’s Centre for Creative Writing, will offer a residency for the winner of the prize and the Association of Scotish Literary Studies will provide administrative support. Our judging panel comprises three tremendous Scotish writers and critics: Leila Aboulela, Tawona Sithole and Professor Bashabi Fraser.


There is progress among the publishing industry


too. There are some initiatives for making the literary scene more inclusive in Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022. Creative Scotland has funding packages and has set up an independent group of 12 individuals appointed to its Equalities, Diversit & Inclusion (EDI) Advisory Group for a period of two years—the scheme runs until January 2023. Book festivals in Scotland are changing too. From


Leela Soma was born in Chennai/Madras, India, and now lives in Glasgow. She has published three novels, two collections of poetry and short stories, and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2020


Bute Noir to Bloody Scotland, Aye Write and the huge Edinburgh International Book Fair, all book festivals are making concerted efforts to have more representation from writers of colour from Scotland. However, we still need to make huge efforts to raise awareness among the young and emerging writers of colour that writing could be a promising career. We need to offer mentoring opportunities and competitions in which they can participate. The Kavya Prize is doing just that. We plan a biennial prize that will alternate between an award for full-length, published works of fiction or creative non-fiction, poetry or short story collections, and an award for new writing in literary magazines. In May, we will be presenting a cheque for £1,000 to the winner. Watch this space.


*Scottishbamewritersnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ EDI-Scotland-Final-Report-20200701.pdf


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