Tash Aw facts for kids

Tash Aw, whose full name is Aw Ta-Shi, is a Malaysian writer. He was born on October 4, 1971. Today, he lives in London, England. He is known for writing novels that have won many awards.

About Tash Aw

Tash Aw was born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1971. His parents were from Malaysia. When he was two years old, his family moved back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He grew up there.

Like many people in Malaysia, he grew up speaking several languages. At home, he spoke Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese. At school, he learned Malay and English.

Later, he moved to England to study law at two universities: Jesus College, Cambridge and the University of Warwick. After his law studies, he moved to London to become a writer. In 2003, he earned a special degree in creative writing from the University of East Anglia.

His Books and Awards

His first novel, The Harmony Silk Factory, came out in 2005. This book was very successful. It was considered for the important Booker Prize in 2005. It also won the Whitbread Book Awards First Novel Award. Plus, it won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Novel in the Asia Pacific region. This book has been translated into twenty different languages.

His second novel, Map of the Invisible World, was published in 2009. Time magazine called it a "gripping drama." They also praised Aw's amazing writing style.

In 2013, he released his novel Five Star Billionaire. This book was also considered for the 2013 Man Booker Prize.

In 2016, he wrote The Face: Strangers on a Pier. This book is a memoir, which means it's a true story about his own life. It talks about immigration through the experiences of his Chinese-Malaysian family. It was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

His novel, We, The Survivors, was published in 2019. It was also a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Tash Aw's novels have been translated into 23 languages.

In 2023, Tash Aw became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. This is a special honor for writers in the United Kingdom.

Other Achievements

Tash Aw is one of the most successful Malaysian writers of recent times. When his first book won awards in 2005, he became very well-known in Malaysia and Singapore.

In 2018, his former university, the University of Warwick, gave him an honorary Doctor of Letters degree. This is a special award that honors his achievements. He has also been a visiting professor at Columbia University. He was also a special fellow at the Institute of Ideas & Imagination in Paris. He is also a Fellow of the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program.

List of Works

Novels

• The Harmony Silk Factory (2005)
• Map of the Invisible World (2009)
• Five Star Billionaire (2013)
• We, The Survivors (2019)
• The South (2025)

Nonfiction

• The Face: Strangers On A Pier (2016)