On the 07th of September from 4.00pm to 5.00pm (GMT+530), The Asian masterclass will introduce you a new author among its shortlist for The Asian Prize for Fiction.

Mrinalini Harchandrai’s poetry has been longlisted for the erbacce-prize 2022, was a finalist for the Quarterly West Poetry Prize 2021 and Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Prize 2019, and received an Honourable Mention for the Cid Pearlman Performance Project 2021 and anthologied in the Yearbook of Indian Poetry 2023 (forthcoming). Her short fiction has been longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2018 and shortlisted for Columbia Journal Spring 2020 Contest. The unpublished manuscript of her novel, Rescuing A River Breeze (Bloomsbury, 2023) longlisted for the UK’s McKitterick Prize in 2021. The Dragon’s Heart, an anthology of world poetry in translation she co-edited is forthcoming with Jadavpur University Press. She is former Deputy Editor at Poetry at Sangam.

About the book:

It is 1961 and Goa is under Portuguese rule. In the heart of Panjim, life is as usual on the banks of the river Mandovi. Thirteen-year-old Shirly Quarachim’s idyllic days include outings to her father’s mines, convent school shenanigans and prep for an upcoming musical. She is also falling in love for the first time.

But the drums of war are being readied. Indian forces amass across the border, while the Portuguese dictator António Salazar is determined to burn everything down before giving up Goa. When Shirly’s beloved father is arrested on charges of treason, she must put her teenage reveries aside and face off against intimidating dhowmen, resistance fighters and a sadistic police officer who loves a bit of torture. 

Through this exquisite tale of a girl on the cusp of womanhood, Rescuing a River Breeze draws a vivid portrait of a bygone era and a people wrestling with identity and nationhood.

Zoom Link for registration:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEucuCspz8oHNMx_-dFpvl62IqfJ66EfC41