Nury Vittachi

(Sri Lanka, 1956) writes fiction and non-fiction for children and adults and is a well-liked journalist and columnist in Asia. In his best known book, the whodunit The Feng Shui Detective (2000, translated in 2005) he plays with the dialects of English in Asia. Also, he ridicules western bias about Asians and vice versa. Vittachi tries to improve the literary climate in Asia. He was the initiator of the Asia Literary Review and various literary festivals and prizes. Right now he is on the jury of the first great Asian literary prize, the Australia Asia Literary Award. Vittachi gives online writing lessons, visits schools and informs his audience daily through www.jam100.com. As a baby he had to flee his native country owing to death threats addressed at his father, who had written a book on the struggle between the Singalese majority and the Tamils. He grew up in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Londen and now lives in Hong Kong.