Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi
Udupi, Dec 7: Renita D’Silva has been announced the winner of the Joffe Books Prize for Crime Writers of Colour 2023, for her compelling psychological thriller, The Neighbour.
The judges, including bestselling author Nadine Matheson, literary agent Nelle Andrew and Joffe Books editorial director Emma Grundy Haigh, considered each manuscript in terms of both the strength of the writing and marketability. The judges unanimously awarded the Joffe Books Prize 2023 to Renita D’Silva.
Renita says, “I am beyond thrilled to win the Joffe Books Prize 2023 and very excited to be signing with Joffe. I feel humbled and privileged to have such a brilliant team backing my books and to be joining such an amazingly talented cohort of writers.”
Renita D’Silva fell in love with stories at the age of six when her father presented her with her very first story books: Andersen and Grimm Fairy Tales. She has published ten historical fiction novels, the most recent of which is ‘The War Child’. Her short stories have been published various magazines and anthologies, and been nominated for the Pushcart prize, shortlisted for the LoveReading Very Short Story award and longlisted for the BBC National Short Story award. The Neighbour is her first psychological thriller.
Renita D'Silva's short stories have appeared in 'The View from Here', 'Bartleby Snopes', 'this' zine, 'Platinum Page', 'Paragraph Planet' and various anthologies of prizewinning short stories in competitions run by Kingston University, London, in association with the Kingston Readers' Festival. Her story on the theme of 'Journeys' was published in a book of winning entries in an international writing competition run by Sampad, an Arts council funded organisation supporting South East Asian Arts in Birmingham. 'Colour' was the Editor's choice in the Bartleby Snopes half yearly anthology and was nominated for the Pushcart 2011 prize. 'Diet' was nominated for the 2011 'Best of the Net' anthology. Her debut novel, 'Monsoon Memories' was selected as 'Notable for potential - Entry that showed a writer's all-round flair, talent, ideas and feel for storytelling' in the UK Authors Opening Pages' competition 2010.
'Monsoon Memories', 'The Forgotten Daughter', 'The Stolen Girl' and 'A Sister's Promise', all have topped the Literary Fiction Charts in the UK, US and Canada, with 'A Sister's Promise' reaching the top 10 overall in Canada and Number 2 in Australia and 'The Forgotten Daughter' reaching the top 50 in the US and the UK.
She has authored five novels so far. Out of the five, her best hit novels ‘Monsoon Memories’ (first one) was released in 2013, ‘The Forgotten Daughter’ in 2014, ‘The Stolen Girl’ in 2014, ‘A Sister’s Promise’ in 2015, and ‘A Mother’s Secret’ in 2016.
Renita was born in Bantwal, Mangaluru and later her family relocated to Kallianpur when she was three months old. She moved to the UK in the year 2000 after her marriage. She is the eldest of the three children of Cyril D’Silva and Hilda D’Silva. Hilda is a retired professor who taught for several years in Milagres College, Kallianpur. She studied in Milagres and was the first batch of high school to pass out in 1992.
She completed her schooling in Milagres and later did her engineering at NTK Surathkal. After her marriage she settled in London, UK. The specialities of her novels consist in, being women centric with Indian ethos and settings. Presently she is settled in United Kingdom with her husband and two kids.