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