Awards, Rewards and Reviews

It has been mad few weeks but very exciting too. I’d been nominated for a Scottish Asian Women’s Award and had an interview with Ms Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister of Scotland, and Mr Willie Rennie, Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats. I won’t know the result until 13th March. It’s a great recognision just to be shortlisted. I’ll let you know how I got on next week.

I’ve had many interviews in the past few months and I don’t think I had the chance to put the links here. I chose two interviews for this post. They are:

A Life Redefined – UB Post
Excellent questions including:

-Your book takes on some sensitive issues in Mongolian culture and Western culture. Did the politics of “Mongol” drive your writing or did it arise from the process of storytelling?

-Loss of loved ones is dealt with very differently in Mongolia than it is in other parts of the world. Can you share a bit about how you faced – and continue to face – that process?

Author interview with Trisha Nicholson

I connected with Trisha @TrishaNicholson a couple of years ago through Twitter. Trisha lived in Scotland for many years and now she lives in New Zealand. Trisha spent some time in Mongolia in 1995. Her questions brought out really detailed answers that I even had to think and check before I answered them. They included:

– You have two twitter accounts, one in English and one in Mongolian, in what other ways do you live in both cultures?

– It’s 17 years since I was in Ulaanbaatar, taxis did not exist then, you simply flagged down a passing car and if the driver was willing, he took you where you wanted to go. There was a generally agreed rate for his petrol. I expect that is different now?

– How aware are people in Mongolia that their name is still misused here?

Last but not least, I came across this review of MONGOL by Bookslut.com.

There are over 30 reviews already on Amazon, Waterstone’s and Goodreads and they are all 5 stars which I’m very pleased about. Then this Bookslut one made me look at MONGOL differently. It analyzed the book, critisized and praised it. So I’ll let you read it yourself here. 2013-06-08 08.42.12

Don’t forget to check the Events page to see where I’m appearing. It’s always lovely to see friendly faces and hear from you too.