Chef

Jaspreet Singh is a former research scientist who holds a PhD in chemical engineering from McGill University. His debut collection of short stories, Seventeen Tomatoes: Tales from Kashmir won the 2004 McAuslan First Book Prize, and his stories have appeared in The Walrus and Zoetrope. Born in Punjab and brought up in Kashmir, Singh now lives in British Columbia.

'A fascinating, kaleidoscopic journey through one of the most beautiful yet besieged areas in the world - Jaspreet Singh brings out the full poetry and heartbreak of Kashmir'

'Extraordinary...Chef is an elegant, angry novel ... worthy to stand among the finest of Indian writing, while also being different'

'The disputed region of Kashmir forms the elegiac backdrop to an episodic, image- rich work'

'Singh writes of a beautiful place that dances on the razor wire of India and Pakistan's disputed border. His prose redefines an exhausted situation, giving it new light'

Shortlisted for the 2009 Commonwealth Prize for Best Book and nominated for the 2010 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.