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Untitled Document
Island
of Blood
Press
releases
Stop Press: 10 October 2001
Penguin Books India
is delighted to announce that Anita Pratap's ISLAND OF BLOOD: FRONTLINE REPORTS
FROM SRI LANKA, AFGHANISTAN AND OTHER SOUTH ASIAN FLASHPOINTS has gone into
reprint after just six days of its launch - an unprecedented feat for a book
published in hardcover by Penguin India. The initial print run itself was twice
the normal number published for a non-fiction title --- this has established
Island of Blood as an instant best seller. Normally, a best selling title goes
into reprint 3 months after publication.
Island of Blood
is a distillation of the experiences and insights of one of the finest journalists
India has ever produced. During the eighties and nineties, when the Indian media
rarely ventured into flashpoints like Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, Anita Pratap
braved the odds to send in reports from the front, over and over again. War,
ethnic conflict, earthquakes, cyclones and droughts, wherever there was a story
to be told, she would track it down. First in India, then in Sri Lanka, Anita
managed to gain access to LTTE chief Pirabhakaran, and her interviews with him
made headlines around the world. In Afghanistan, she eluded the Taliban militia
to discover the frightening reality of women's lives under a terrifyingly fanatical
regime.
Wherever she went,
Anita saw and faithfully reported the consequences of racial and historical
prejudice, religious and sexual discrimination, and mindless hatred and fear.
And each time, she returned to the comfort of home and family with a renewed
determination to appreciate and celebrate the ordinary.
A personalized
narrative that moves between the present and the past, Island of Blood is the
memoir of a war correspondent that juxtaposes the experience of war and suffering
with the blessed ordinariness of daily life, allowing the reader to see each
in the context of the other. The book is particularly relevant in the aftermath
of the attacks on America, and the renewed interest in the psyche of terrorism.
Anita Pratap has
worked for leading Indian and American newspapers and magazines including Sunday,
Indian Express, India Today, and Time. Until 1999, she was the New Delhi Bureau
Chief for CNN, reporting news from South Asia.
She has won several
Indian and international media awards, including the prestigious George Polk
award for her coverage of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 1996. In 1998
she was awarded the Chameli Devi Jain award for her "sensitive portrayal
of the human condition" and for her "talent, dedication and courage
as a reporter".
She is currently
freelancing, making television documentary films and writing columns for magazines.
Island of Blood is her first book.
It was launched
in New Delhi on 3rd October 2001.
Penguin
Books India
announces the publication of
Island
of Blood
Frontline Reports from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and other South Asian Flashpoints
by
Anita Pratap
About the Author
Anita Pratap has
worked for leading Indian and American magazines and newspapers, including Sunday,
Indian Express, India Today and Time. Until 1999 she was the New Delhi Bureau
Chief for CNN.
Description
In the course of
her career as a journalist, Anita Pratap reported extensively from the conflict
zones of South Asia. During the eighties and nineties, when the Indian media
rarely ventured into flashpoints like Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, Anita Pratap
braved the odds to send in reports from the front, over and over again. War,
ethnic conflict, earthquakes, cyclones and droughts, wherever there was a story
to be told, she would track it down. Wherever she went, she saw and faithfully
reported the consequences of racial and historical prejudice, religious and
sexual discrimination, and mindless hatred and fear. And each time, she returned
to the comfort of home and family with a renewed determination to appreciate
and celebrate the ordinary.
A personalized
narrative that moves between the present and the past, Island of Blood is the
memoir of a war correspondent that juxtaposes the experience of war and suffering
with the blessed ordinariness of daily life, allowing the reader to see each
in the context of the other. The book is particularly relevant in the aftermath
of the attacks on America, and the renewed interest in the psyche of terrorism.
Viking Rs 295
For more information
or to interview the author, please contact Hemali Sodhi at 649 4401/05
Email : hemali.sodhi@penguin-india.com
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