Published: 11 Feb 2019
An aspiring author from East Renfrewshire has been announced as the recipient of Scottish Book Trust’s Next Chapter Award 2019. Samina Chaudhry was born in Manchester, and completed her Masters degree in Pakistan. Seeing first-hand the social and political strife – and one day being held at gun point along with her husband – Samina made the decision to leave. They originally did not plan to stay in Scotland for long, but the warmth and cultural diversity of the country changed their mind.
Previous winners of the award include Gail Honeyman, bestseller author of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, recently awarded with a Platinum Award (for sales exceeding 1 million) at Nielsen’s annual Bestseller Awards. The Next Chapter Award is run by Scottish Book Trust, the national charity transforming lives through reading and writing. The prize is aimed at writers aged over 40 who wish to develop a specific piece of work to publication standard, and applicants must demonstrate genuine potential for publication.
Samina is currently working on a novel, Half-Woman, which is inspired by her experience of growing-up in different places and the juxtaposition of different societies. The story is told from three perspectives: that of Jalal and Salima, a retired couple going back to their homeland, Pakistan; and of Shumali, a transgender woman who works part time as a maid in their house. The novel traces the marginalisation of transgender people as well as exploring the themes of belonging and loneliness. Her work has been performed at the Linlithgow Book Festival and Aye Write Festival.
The Next Chapter Award will provide Samina with a £2000 bursary, nine months of mentoring and two weeks on retreat at creative writing centre Moniack Mhor, with the aim of developing her novel to publication standard.
Commenting on the award, Samina Chaudhry said: “I’m so honoured to be a recipient of this award. It feels like a new chapter has opened up, and I’m more than ready to make use of the time and gift money as well as the wonderful opportunity to work with my mentor, and to develop my novel to a publishing standard.”
Marc Lambert, CEO of Scottish Book Trust, said: “Congratulations to Samina Chaudhry on her Next Chapter Award. We’re delighted to provide the time and support for aspiring writers who otherwise may not have the opportunity to further their work. We look forward to hearing more about Samina’s fascinating novel in the future.”
Shumali doesn’t look so happy. She doesn’t want to take the gold home in case the others think she’s stolen it. When the wife says she can leave it with us for another couple of days Shumali stands up and starts singing. She kicks her shoes off, claps her hand and does a twirl. She throws her head backward, her long hair almost touching the ground and her scarf it’s lying on the floor. It’s like she’s been taken over by something the way she’s moving. The wife is also clapping and starts singing. She tries to sway her hips but sits back down. Then I see Samra on the roof standing with another woman, watching. She waves towards us.
You’re celebrating something? She shouts.
The wife knows she’s joking and smiles back at them.
Shumali moves fast then she slows down and does that thing where she holds her head still, and joins her hands together in front of her, and her neck the way she moves it forward and backward. That’s something special I’ve never seen her do before. This is what you call being fluid. She comes towards me, puts her hand forward, gesturing at me to join her. I hear Samra say, The old man’s too beautiful, Shumali you be careful. He might go home with you and not come back. They laugh and the wife joins in.
Very nice. Very nice Shumali, the other woman with Samra shouts towards us.
I keep my head down and walk towards the lemon tree. It’s covered with mini lemons that are still greenish yellow. I pick a broken twig from the ground. This year I’ve made my mind up, I’m not going to let the neighbour’s pick our fruit.
For all media enquiries, please contact Press Officer Keara Donnachie: Keara.Donnachie@scottishbooktrust.com or 0131 524 0184.
Scottish Book Trust is a national charity changing lives through reading and writing. We inspire and support the people of Scotland to read and write for pleasure though programmes and outreach work that include:
