Readers!

You’ve come to this blog at just the right time. I need your help and I need it now. Every year, The Guardian newspaper organizes a contest for the best fiction published in the UK. They call it the Not the Booker Prize as The Guardian casts its net far more widely than the Booker ever will.

This year, my debut novel The Dancing Girl and the Turtle made it onto the long list. It’s huge list: more than 150 books nominated this year. Can you help me make it onto the short list?!!!

Here’s the link where you can vote. Anyone can vote, wherever you might live in the galaxy. You simply add a comment. But there’s more.

instructions

1. You need to vote for two books from two different publishers. You will of course cast your first vote for me and my novel. If you have no idea how to cast your second vote, may I recommend Shambala Junction by my friend Dipika Mukherjee?
2. You will need to justify at least one of your votes with a 100 word review (more or less). You need to write this in your own words, so go wild. If you’re experiencing total writer’s block, you can mix and match your words from this brand new review from the Hong Kong Review of Books. Woo hoo!

   

3. Start your review with the word VOTE.
4. Push the send button before 23.59 British Summer Time on Monday 7 August 2017. Call it 2pm West Coast time, midnight in Europe and 6am in Hong Kong.

rewards

What’s the prize, you may ask? In the first place, publicity. The Guardian will review each of the shortlisted books.

As it happens, The Guardian is my newspaper of choice these days, with its progressive bent and undying commitment to independent journalism. So, in all respects, it would be a real honor to make it onto their pages.

But what I really want is this fabulous coffee mug, the sole pecuniary advantage to winning this contest.

Where’s mine, you now ask? Well, there’s the joy of posting comments in a relatively uncurated environment. Then, if your choice makes it onto the shortlist, you get to vote again in the next round. Finally, The Guardian just might invite you to join the jury who will choose the winning book.

For the lawyers and other control freaks out there, you can read the fine print here.

Vote! Vote! Please vote!