In 2007, she was awarded the prestigious David T.K. The second novel in her deal has yet to be written, but it will be a dark comedy about three sisters, who share a tenuous relationship, on a pilgrimage to India to fulfil their late mother's wishes. She says: 'I liked the idea of writing something funny with serious and dangerous elements lurking beneath the comedy.' She soon learns the widows have other plans: starting an erotic storytelling club.Įrotic Stories For Punjabi Wives deals with themes that have always interested Jaswal: inter-generational conflicts, migrant communities and cultural expectations of Indian women, especially those who live on the fringes of society. The book, which took Jaswal, 32, four years to complete, follows a directionless young woman who takes on the cause of teaching literacy to elderly women in London's Punjabi community. Jaswal's first novel in the two-book deal boasts the eye-catching title Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows and will be the lead title for summer 2017 for HarperCollins in the United Kingdom and its imprint, William Morrow, in the United States. Istanbul-based Balli Kaur Jaswal has nabbed a two-book deal with publishing giant HarperCollins, while a mother and daughter duo are poised to break into the massive Chinese market.Īuthor Eliza Teoh's Ellie Belly series of children's books and her teenage daughter Gabby Tye's young adult series RunHideSeek have had their Simplified Chinese rights scooped up by publishers in China.

Three Singapore writers have clinched book deals with international publishers in the past month.

Ellie Belly by Eliza Teoh