Tash Aw

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Tash Aw

Tash Aw (1973, born Aw Ta-Shii; 歐大旭) is a writer living in London.

1 Biography
2 Works
3 Miscellaneous
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Born in Taipei, Taiwan to Malaysian parents, he grew up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before moving to England in his teens. He studied law at Cambridge and Warwick and then moved to London to write. After graduating he worked at a number of jobs, including as a lawyer for four years whilst writing his debut novel, which he completed during the creative writing course at the University of East Anglia, alma mater of writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro of The Remains of the Day, Tracy Chevalier of Girl with a Pearl Earring and Ian McEwan of Enduring Love.

[edit] Works

Cover of the UK first edition

His first novel, The Harmony Silk Factory, was published in 2005 to rave reviews, and was reportedly sold to the publishers for over £500,000. It was longlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize and won the 2005 Whitbread Book Awards First Novel Award as well as the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Novel (Asia Pacific region). It has thus far been translated into seventeen languages. Aw cites his literary influences as Conrad, Vladimir Nabokov, Anthony Burgess, William Faulkner and Gustav Flaubert, and indeed, his first novel bears resonances of many of these writers, particularly Conrad.

Cover after winning the Whitbread First Novel Award

He is currently working on his second novel, set in 1960s Malaysia.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Aw is probably the most successful Malaysian writer of recent years. Following the announcement of the Booker longlist, he became a local celebrity in Malaysia and a shining example for young Malaysian writers.