The author of The South, longlisted for the Booker Prize 2025, reflects on the inspirations behind the novel, the books that shaped him, and his need for peace, quiet and coffee in order to write
Tash Aw
Born in Taiwan, Tash Aw is the author of five novels, three of which have been longlisted for the Booker Prize
Raised in Malaysia and educated in England, Aw attended the University of East Anglia’s celebrated creative writing school and subsidised his nascent career by working as an auction-house porter, a paralegal in a law firm and a Chinese language tutor. His literary examinations of the changes in his home region over the past 100 years earned him the (occasional) moniker of the ‘Malaysian Graham Greene’.
His work has won the Whitbread and Commonwealth Prizes, and an O. Henry Award, and has been translated into over 20 languages.
To call The South a coming-of-age novel nearly misses its expanse. This is a story about heritage, the Asian financial crisis, and the relationship between one family and the land
The Booker Prize 2025 judges on The South
All nominated books
A radiant novel about family, desire and what we inherit, and the longing that blooms between two boys over the course of one summer
Tash Aw’s acclaimed first novel is a multi-layered story of love and regret set against the turmoil of mid-20th century Malaysia
Tash Aw’s kaleidoscopic novel about the overlapping lives of five ambitious newcomers to China’s most dynamic city
Features
- Book recommendations
The Booker Prize 2025 longlisted authors on the books they reread again and again
- Book extract
