55. Diversity & short story anthologies (part 2): Vaseem Khan & Ivy Ngeow

We'd Like A Word

Diversity & short story anthologies (part 2): Authors Vaseem Khan & Ivy Ngeow tell We'd Like A Word hosts Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan how they edited their recently published short story anthologies. Vaseem is co-editor (With Maxim Jakubowski) of The Perfect Crime: 22 Crime Stories from Diverse Cultures Around the World, published by Harper Collins. Ivy is editor of Asian Anthology: New Writing Volume 1, published by Leopard Print. We talk about getting diverse voices published, about cultural appropriation & avoiding "rule by the mob", how they choose who to include, what to do if you want to get your own story into an anthology, what editors love and what they hate, and we hear excerpts of some of the stories read by their authors.

These two short story anthologies take different approaches - open call v selected authors, big names v unknowns, genre framework v very loose theme. And the editors take different approaches on how they edit. For instance, if we do not generally put the word spaghetti in italics, why should we treat mee mamak any differently? Discuss...

Lots of other authors/publishers get a mention too - Dotun Adebayo and his XPress, Hachette, Will Dean, Neil Jordan, EP Chiew, Ewan Lawrie, Tess Gerritsen, Jabba the Hut creator John Coppinger, SA Cosby, Walter Mosley, and more.

We recommend both The Perfect Crime and Asian Anthology, but their editors are also authors in their own right with books out recently. Ivy Ngeow is the author of fiction and non-fiction including on fitness, health & cooking. Her latest thriller is White Crane Strikes. Vaseem Khan is the author of the Baby Ganesh Detective Agency & Malabar House crime fiction novels set in India.

We'd Like A Word is a podcast & radio show from authors Paul Waters & Stevyn Colgan. We talk with writers, readers, editors, agents, celebrities, talkers, poets, publishers, booksellers, audiobook creators about books - fiction & non-fiction. We go out on various radio & podcast platforms. Our website is http://www.wedlikeaword.com for information on Paul & Steve & our guests. We're also on Twitter @wedlikeaword & Facebook @wedlikeaword & our email is [e-mail] Yes, we are embarrassed by the missing apostrophes. We like to hear from you - questions, thoughts, ideas, guest or book suggestions. Perhaps you'd like to come on We'd Like A Word to chat, review or read out passages from books. And if you're still stuck for something to read, may we recommend Blackwatertown, the thriller \by Paul Waters or Cockerings, the new comic classic by Stevyn Colgan.