Londonstani

Gautam Malkani was born in 1976 and grew up around Hounslow. He is Editor of the Financial Times Creative Business pages. Londonstani is his first novel, and was shortlisted for the 'Writer of the Year British Book Award 2007'. He lives in London.

'The aspirational gangsta swirls us into a bhuna of gang-fights, inter-faith romance and organised crime, and the dizzying humour that underpins his voice is sharp, clever and convincing!In a linguistic politics redolent of Sam Selvon, Victor Headley and Irvine Welsh, Malkani conveys with elan and expertise, through a sub-urban "desi-dialect", the absurdity of adolescence and the complex self deceptions of contemporary cultural dynamics in the UK.' Independent 'Malkani has some interesting observations about identity and the way in which the culturally oppressed can take strength from their exclusion. The end is a complete surprise and forces the reader to question the skin-deep assumptions we make about race.' Sunday Telegraph '"Londonstani" is a bold debut, brimming with energy and authenticity.' Observer 'If you're going to read one yoofy, "urban" book this summer, make sure it's "Londonstani"!' Arena Magazine 'With "Londonstani", Gautam Malkani has written one of the most vibrant and fresh first novels in years, innit.' BBC Collective magazine 'Malkani's ingeniously structured first novel, given a youth-savvy repackaging, reads like "The Catcher in the Rye" with a hip young British-Asian accent!When this was first published in hardback last year, Rageh Omaar called it "razor-sharp". Others were equally complimentary -- and, for once, such praise seems entirely justified.' The Times 'London's Brit-Asian youth have waited long enough for a defining novel, and the journalist Gautam Malkani's debut seems to be it.' Daily Telegraph

'The aspirational gangsta swirls us into a bhuna of gang-fights, inter-faith romance and organised crime, and the dizzying humour that underpins his voice is sharp, clever and convincing...In a linguistic politics redolent of Sam Selvon, Victor Headley and Irvine Welsh, Malkani conveys with élan and expertise, through a sub-urban "desi-dialect", the absurdity of adolescence and the complex self deceptions of contemporary cultural dynamics in the UK.' Independent

'Malkani has some interesting observations about identity and the way in which the culturally oppressed can take strength from their exclusion. The end is a complete surprise and forces the reader to question the skin-deep assumptions we make about race.' Sunday Telegraph

'"Londonstani" is a bold debut, brimming with energy and authenticity.' Observer

'If you're going to read one yoofy, "urban" book this summer, make sure it's "Londonstani"!' Arena Magazine

'With "Londonstani", Gautam Malkani has written one of the most vibrant and fresh first novels in years, innit.' BBC Collective magazine