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How to pronounce Tan Twan Eng: tahn twahn ehng
Tan Twan Eng was born in Penang and lived in various places in Malaysia as a child. His first novel, The Gift of Rain, was longlisted for the Man Booker. His second, The Garden of Evening Mists was a major international bestseller, shortlisted for the Man Booker, and winner of the Man Asia Literary Prize and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. It was adapted into an award-winning film in 2019 that was directed by Tom Lin. Twan divides his time between Malaysia and South Africa.
Tan Twan Eng's website
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How does it feel to be nominated for the Booker Prize 2023, and what would winning mean to you?
It feels wonderful, especially when my last book was published almost eleven years ago. The House of Doors was an extremely difficult book for me to write, and there were many occasions when I wanted to abandon it. Nothing would work, nothing was cohering. But I felt driven by the characters and the story, and I refused to give up on it.
Winning would mean much, much more than something personal for me: no writer from Malaysia – no writer from South-East Asia – has ever won the Booker Prize. When people talk about 'Asian Writing' and 'Asian Literature', they're talking about China, Japan, Korea. South-East Asia is often barely even acknowledged. Winning would create a wider, more global awareness of writers and literature from my small but culturally rich corner of the world.
This is the third nomination you've received for the Booker Prize, and you've been nominated for each of your three novels - a 100 per cent strike rate. Does it feel any different this time?
I told a friend recently, 'I should stop writing now, to preserve that 100 percent strike rate.'
It feels just as exciting as the first and second time, because each...
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