Arun Sood wins the Kavya Prize
We are delighted to announce that Arun Sood has won the Kavya Prize for his debut novel New Skin for the Old Ceremony: A Kirtan. Founded by Indian-born Scottish author Leela Soma, the prize, in association with the Creative Writing Programme at the University of Glasgow, seeks to recognise writers of colour who are Scottish by birth, residence or formation.
In New Skin for the Old Ceremony, four estranged friends reunite for a motorcycle trip up the Isle of Skye, in the hope of coming to terms with how their lives have splintered since a transformative ride in Northern India fourteen years earlier. In their fumbling attempts to spiritually reconnect, expectant father Raj, recently widowed Vidhushei, always youthful Liam and perpetually fragile Bobby test the limits of their friendship around campfires, on twisty roads, in unexpected Ayahuasca ceremonies, and against discussions of belonging, race, and identity.
A novel about youth, the spectres of friendship, and colonial legacies in a small but fiercely proud nation, New Skin for the Old Ceremony spans India and Skye, seeing past ghosts exorcised in order to face the present.
Congratulations, Arun!
A tale on youth, mis-belonging, music, race, and motley motorcycle rides across Northern India and Skye as four unlikely friends try to reconnect after a decade apart.