Nina wins literary award

Nina Joshi, of Black Lion Lane, Hammersmith, who is studying for a Master's degree at Brunel University in Uxbridge, Middlesex, will have her story published in an anthology of winning stories about coming to live in Britain, later this year.
She is among 16 winners of the prize, backed by Penguin Books and Arts Council England, whose work will appear in a collection of short stories entitled Volume 2: Personal Tales of Immigration to Britain.
In A Leaky Roof in London, Nina, who is Indian by origin and grew up in Kenya, recalls her immigration to England, with her family.

“Writing it brought back long-forgotten memories of moving from sunny, equatorial Kenya to sometimes-sunny England, when I assumed Aston Villa was a house, winter was glamorous and beaches meant cloudless skies and warm waters,“ she said.
Nina graduated from Brunel 14 years ago with a degree in Applied Computer Systems and is now studying for a Master's degree in Creative Writing: The Novel.
She is currently editing her first novel as well as writing her second for her MA dissertation, supervised by Brunel's Professor of Creative Writing, Fay Weldon.


Nina won her first national writing competition in Nairobi at the age of “11 or 12,“ rediscovering the joys of creative writing as an adult whilst working as an international graduate trainee for Reuters, when she was posted in Geneva.
Later, as a global project manager, she “wrote mostly on flights and in hotel rooms when I couldn't sleep.“
Of her writing ability, she commented: “I've learned that it's necessary to be able to submit a piece of work even if I didn't think it was perfect.“
Adding: “I'm looking forward to reading the other 15 stories in the anthology.“

The first anthology of the Decibel Penguin prize-winners' stories, Volume 1: New Voices from A Diverse Culture was published last year.

Fellow creative writing student at Brunel University, Ali Sheikholeslami, is another of this year's winners.

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