Author and academic wins literature prize for debut novel

A story of four estranged friends reuniting for a symbolic motorcycle journey through the Isle of Skye has earned a University author and academic a prestigious Scottish literature award.

New Skin for the Old Ceremony, the debut novel by Dr Arun Sood, has won the 2024 Kavya Prize, celebrating the finest literary achievements of Scottish writers of colour.

Dr Sood, Lecturer in Global Pre-1800 Literature, was born in Aberdeen to a West-Highland Mother and Punjabi father, and his work across music, poetry, fiction and other artforms have engaged with diasporic identities, mixed-race heritage, ancestry, language and memory.

He completed New Skin for the Old Ceremony in 2021, and saw it published the following year by 404Ink. Dr Sood was there in person to collect the award at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, last week.

“I am really honoured and delighted,” said Dr Sood, of the Department of English and Creative Writing. “Publishing a book after years of labour can be an anti-climax, particularly given the publishing industry for literary fiction and independents often suffers low sales and PR support. To have recognition and engagement from such informed judges was really nice.”

The book follows four friends who reunite for a motorcycle trip up the Isle of Skye in the hope of coming to terms with how their lives have splintered since a transformative ride in Northern India 14 years earlier. Through their attempts to spiritually reconnect, the book explores themes of youth, race, identity, belonging and cultural legacy.

“My aim was to write a postcolonial road novel,” said Dr Sood. “I wanted to create entertaining, complex, and fraught characters who set out to find out something about themselves and others in relation to themes of heritage, constructions of ‘race’, and nationhood, with a particular focus on second-generation South Asians in Scotland.

“Nostalgia is also a big theme I wanted to explore; that phenomenon of us so often pining for an irretrievable past, be it in personal or political contexts.”

The Kavya Prize, founded by the late Indian-born Scottish author Leela Soma, recognises and encourages writers of colour who are Scottish by birth, residence or formation. In association with the University of Glasgow and supported by Aye Write, Glasgow’s Book Festival, this year’s prize focused on traditionally published books, plays and poetry collections.

Also on the shortlist was The Last to Drown by Lorraine Wilson (Luna Press Publishing); Tapping at Glass by Tim Tim Cheng (Verve Poetry Press); Belonging by Amanda Thomson (Canongate); and At least this I know by Andrés N. Ordorica (404 Ink).

Professor Zoe Strachan, author and lecturer at the University of Glasgow, and on this year’s judging panel, said: “The Kavya Prize shortlist for 2024 showcased the vibrant diversity and exceptional talent within Scotland’s literary landscape. As we honour Arun Sood, we also celebrate the enduring legacy of Leela Soma, whose vision continues to illuminate and amplify voices that have been traditionally underrepresented.”

Dr Sood is currently working on several projects including one about the Hebridean diaspora in relation to race, settler colonisation and indigenous studies. His second novel is also underway, and he has recently finished a poetry manuscript. To learn more, visit his profile page.