Meera Nair bags Asian American Literary Award

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">HOUSTON: Indian origin author Meera Nair has been selected for the 2003 Asian American Literary Awards for her book <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Video: Stories</span>, which narrates the immigrant experience.<br /><br />Nair''s work was chosen from over 60 books of Asian American writers by a national panel of writers and literary critics.Besides her, Walter Lew was selected for <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Treadwinds: Poems and Intermedia Works</span> and Julie Otsuka for <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">When the Emperor was Divine</span>.<br /><br />Earlier, Nair''s book was chosen as one of the best books of 2002 by the <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Washington Post</span> and was a Kiriyama Prize Notable Book.<br /><br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Video</span> is a collection of ten short stories, examining the Indian immigrant experience, out of which nine are set in India. published by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, New York, the 191-page book hit the stores last April.<br /><br />Critics have hailed <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Video</span> as "an astonishing debut", written with a wry intelligence and an irresistible blend of humour, wit, and pathos.<br /><br />It masterfully evokes traditional Indian culture as it confronts the onrush of change. In subtle gestures and keenly observed details, Meera Nair reveals an entire world of gleaming particularity and transcendent emotional power, the critics say.<br /><br />Nair was born and raised in India and came to US in 1997 to study creative writing. She received an MA from Temple University and an M F A from New York University, where she was a <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">New York Times</span> fellow. Her stories have been published in The Threepenny Review and Calyx. Nair lives in Brooklyn with her husband and a daughter.<br /><br />The award will be presented on December 8 at the Asia Society, New York. </div> </div>