Tash Aw
Encyclopedia : T : TA : TAS : Tash Aw
Tash Aw (1973, born Aw Ta-Shii; 歐大旭) is a Malaysian-born writer living in London, United Kingdom.
Biography
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, he grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before moving to the United Kingdom in his teens. He read law at the University of Warwick and Cambridge University. After graduating he worked at a law firm for five years as a paralegal whilst continuing with his debut novel and pursued the creative writing course at the University of East Anglia, alma mater of writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro of The Remains of the Day, Tracy Chevalier of Girl with a Pearl Earring and Ian McEwan of Enduring Love.Works
His first novel, The Harmony Silk Factory, was published in 2005 to rave reviews, having been sold to the publishers for over £500,000. It was longlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize and won the 2005 Whitbread Book Awards First Novel Award. It has a distinct resonance to Joseph Conrad, and Aw is indeed an admirer of Conrad, along with Vladimir Nabokov, Anthony Burgess, William Faulkner and Gustav Flaubert.
His second novel is set in the 1960s in Malaysia, a turbulent time when this country emerge out of its colonial past and establish their independence.
Miscellaneous
Aw is probably the most successful Malaysian writer of recent years. Following the announcement of the Booker longlist, he became a local celebrity in Malaysia and a shining example for young Malaysian writers.External links
- [The first chapter of The Harmony Silk Factory in PDF file]
- [An interview on the publisher's website]
- [Cover Story: Tash for Cash in TheEdgeDaily.com]
- [Whitbread Book Awards]
- [The man behind the author, an interview on a Malaysian website]
- [Staying true to his beliefs]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.