Three Asia-born writers in Orange Prize for Fiction list

London, March 20: Works of three Asia-born authors figure in the long list of this years Orange Prize for Fiction, awarded for writings in English by women, but there are no Indians among the 20. The three novels are Pakistan-born Kamila Shamsie`s "Burnt Shadows", Malaysia-born Preeta Samarasan`s "Evening is The Whole Day" and Sri Lanka-born V V Ganeshananthan`s "Love Marriage".

The Orange Prize is UK`s only annual book award for fiction written by a woman. The Orange Prize for Fiction 2009 judges will be chaired by broadcaster Fi Glover, who will be joined by writer, novelist and broadcaster Bidisha, journalist and academic Sarah Churchwell, journalist and novelist Kira Cochrane and entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox. The shortlist will be announced on April 21 and the winner of the 30,000 pounds prize will be named on 3 June. Nobel Prize-winning American author Toni Morrison is also in the long list for her work "A Mercy". Samarasan moved to the US as a teenager and now lives in France. "Evening is The Whole Day", published by HarperCollins, is her first novel. Love Marriage is also the debut novel of Ganeshananthan, who is of Tamil descent. On the other hand, Shamsie is the author of four previous novels: "In the City by the Sea", "Kartography" (both shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), "Salt and Saffron" and "Broken Verses". Three of her novels have received awards from Pakistan`s Academy of Letters. She lives in London. The other writers in the long list are Debra Adelaide (The Household Guide to Dying), Gaynor Arnold (Girl in a Blue Dress), Lissa Evans (Their Finest Hour and a Half), Bernardine Evaristo (Blonde Roots), Ellen Feldman (Scottsboro), Laura Fish (Strange Music), Allegra Goodman (Intuition), Saman tha Harvey (The Wilderness), Samantha Hunt (The Invention of Everything Else), Michelle de Kretser (The Lost Dog), Deirdre Madden (Molly Fox's Birthday), Gina Ochsner (The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight), Marilynne Robinson (Home), Curtis Sittenfeld (American Wife), Miriam Toews (The Flying Troutmans) and Ann Weisgarber (The Personal History of Rachel DuPree). Bureau Report