From Booklist
This volume provides summaries of 53 novelists who write in English and have achieved various levels of acclaim. Most of the writers were born in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, or Sri Lanka.Arranged by the novelist's last name, each article contains four sections: biography, "Major Works and Themes," "Critical Reception," and bibliography. For example, the three-page entry for Adib Khan includes a three-paragraph biography highlighting events such as place of birth, education, and current place of employment. "Major Works and Themes" is limited to Khan's three novels. Excerpts from book reviews and references to book awards make up "Critical Reception." References in the bibliography fall under two categories: works, including formats in addition to novels, and studies, consisting mostly of book reviews. Entries on writers with international prominence, such as Salman Rushdie, rely less on book reviews and more on scholarly articles and books. Several article bibliographies cite Internet sources. Unfortunately, a few author bibliographies included article citations without page numbers.Each entry is signed by one of 41 contributors, mostly faculty members and Ph.D. candidates based in the U. S., although some international contributors are included. A two-page general bibliography inventories notable anthologies, secondary sources, and a list of 10 periodical titles of interest (e.g., Indian Writing Today ). A combined author, subject, and title index is provided.Similar information is included in broader literary reference resources. Of the first 25 writers in South Asian Novelists in English, 21 are covered in the online version of Gale's Contemporary Authors. However, a single-volume compilation of English-writing South Asian novelists is a convenient research tool and should also prove useful in collection development. Suitable for large public libraries and academic libraries. RBB
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Book Description
With the publication of Salman Rushdie's Booker Prize winning novel, Midnight's Children in 1981, followed by the unprecedented popularity of his subsequent works, the cinematic adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient, and other best-sellers, South Asian novelists writing in English have gained a tremendous following. This reference is a guide to their lives and writings. The volume includes alphabetically arranged entries on more than 50 novelists who claim South Asia as their birthplace, or who have written and continue to write about issues concerning that region. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and includes a biography, a discussion of major works and themes, a summary of the novelist's critical reception, and primary and secondary bibliographies.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The volume includes alphabetically arranged entries on more than 50 South Asian novelists. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and includes a biography, a discussion of major works and themes, a summary of the novelist's critical reception, and primary and secondary bibliographies. Since many of the contributors are personally acquainted with the novelists, they are able to offer significant insights. The volume closes with a selected bibliography of studies of the South Asian novel in English, along with a list of anthologies and periodicals.

SYNOPSIS