Hanif wins regional round for Commonwealth Writers Prize

Mohammed Hanif

A Case of Exploding Mangoes wins regional Best First Book Prize

12 March 2009

Mohammed Hanif's debut novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes has won today (12 March 2009) the Europe and South Asia regional round of the Commonwealth Writers Prize. Hanif's novel was also longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2008.

The other regional contenders for the Best First Book Award were Sulaiman Addonia, The Consequences of Love (Chatto & Windus); Daniel Clay, Broken (HarperCollins); Joe Dunthorne, Submarine (Hamish Hamilton); and Murzban F Shroff, Breathless in Bombay (St Martin's Griffin, India).

Hanif wins £1,000 and goes into the next stage of the competition to choose the overall Commonwealth Best Book and Best First Book winner, who receive £10,000 and £5,000 respectively. The two overall winners, chosen by an international panel of six judges coming together in New Zealand, will be announced on 16 May 2009 at the Auckland Writers' and Readers Festival.

The Man Booker Prize Fiction at its finest