New Delhi, 20 April 2023: Penguin is thrilled to announce the publication of a fascinating collection of short stories titled, My Mother Pattu by the award-winning short story writer Saras Manickam. Set in Asia and Southeast Asia and spanning a time period from the 1960s to the present day, these stories are both amusing and searing, revealing truths about prejudices, desires, dreams, and delusions that are often hidden beneath the surface of happy multiracial communities. The book is slated to come out later in May 2023 from Penguin Books.
What sets this collection apart is the way that what is not said is just as important as what is. Each story is like a lace handkerchief, with crafted empty spaces that are vital to the overall design. The hidden but implied elements carry the reader forward, forcing them to confront their own personal comfort zones and expectations in life. The
Saras Manickam is a short story writer who has worked as a teacher, college lecturer, school workbook writer, copywriter, and language trainer. She has gained success in recent years, rejecting feel-good sentimentality for authenticity. In 2019, she won the Regional Prize for Asia in the international Commonwealth short story prize. She was also shortlisted for the 2021 Master’s Review Summer Short Story Award.
This book is a must-read for anyone who loves gripping, interesting, and moving tales about the multicultural life we live. These stories speak to men and women across the racial divide as they reveal universal lived experiences such as loss, love, family, identity, racism, friendship, self-deception, and denial. Readers from all over the world will enjoy a glimpse into lives that appear different from theirs but feel similar.
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Penguin Random House India publishes over 250 new titles every year and has an active backlist of over 3000 titles. With a strong fiction and non-fiction list, it publishes across every segment including biography, travel, business, politics, history, religion and philosophy, lifestyle, cookery, health and fitness, sports and leisure, visual books, and children’s books. The children’s titles are published under the Puffin imprint. Penguin Random House India’s illustrious list includes Booker Prize-winning novels and winners of virtually every major literary prize, including the Nobel Prize, the Magsaysay Award, the Jnanpith Award, the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Several of PRHI’s authors are also recipients of the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest civilian honours. Penguin Random House India is also the exclusive distribution partner for several leading local and international publishing houses in India and the sub-continent.
About Penguin Random House SEA
Penguin Random House SEA was established in 2018 to discover and publish local and international voices across English-language adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction formats for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, and Myanmar. As part of Penguin Random House, the world’s largest trade book publisher, the newly established company is also dedicated to its mission of nourishing a universal passion for reading by connecting authors and their writing with readers. Headquartered in Singapore, Penguin Random House SEA will bring the spotlight on local authors from the region and simultaneously open the Southeast Asian market to diverse international titles. In its first year of operations, the publishing house is bringing stories from across the region and publishing authors such as children’s writer Eva Wong from Singapore, Malaysian novelist Tunku Halim, award-winning author and journalist from the Philippines Criselda Yabes, Indonesian poet, essayist, and award-winning novelist and food writer Lakshmi Pamuntjak and author and journalist Akshita Nanda from Singapore, to name a few.
