Page turners: Authors to watch in 2010

Asia Literary Review Editor Chris Wood shares his views on what authors to look out for in 2010. In part one, Wood picked the best books of 2009, and in part two he picked the best books of the decade.

CNNGo: Which English writers in Asia should we watch out for in 2010?

Chris Wood: One to watch out for in 2010 is Miguel Syjuco, author of Illustrado, which scooped the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2008. The award is for manuscripts as yet unpublished in English and Illustrado is due out in mid 2010 after a year in the hands of his New York editors.

Other Asian writers to keep an eye on are Daniyal Mueenuddin and Nam Le. Daniyal’s debut collection of short stories, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, made a big splash in 2009 and Nam’s debut collection, The Boat, was similarly well received in 2008. Both are working on novels. Rana Dasgupta is a hot young writer whose first novel Solo (2008) might have contended for the Man Booker Prize in 2009 had a less conservative panel sat in judgment. Two Malaysian writers to watch out for are Preeta Samarasan, whose Evening is the Whole Day was well received in 2008, and Tash Aw, whose 2009 novel, Map of the Invisible World, failed to match the impact of The Harmony Silk Factory (2005) but is nevertheless a very good read. Among the Chinese, Yan Lianke’s long anticipated The Death of Ding Village is due for translation in July.

CNNGo: Book you'd least like to part with?

Chris Wood: The better I like a book, the more likely I am to force it on other readers, so my favorites don’t remain on my bookshelf for very long. Books should travel and be read, not sit on the shelf gathering dust. They have a job to do.