Ashok Patel

Ashok was brought up in Leicester and has lived in Aberdeen, Nottingham, London and for the last seventeen years in Birmingham. His training and background has been in the biomedical sciences. He teaches and undertakes research in the area of cell and molecular genetics.
His interest in creative writing began as a way to express his British Indian identity and experiences. He is interested in the complexity of the ways that people and cultures interact with each other.
He has written a play for BBC R4, which was directed by Vanessa Whitburn. He has had a short play, in the trilogy of 3 short plays under the title the Cornershop, produced by Man Mela theatre company and toured nationally. He is presently working with Futuretheatre company developing a play based on the expulsion of Asians by Idi Amin from Uganda in 1972. His short story, called Ninety Days, was recently short listed in the Asian Writer Short Story Prize on the theme of borders, boundaries and belonging. The short list is published in an anthology by Dahlia Publishing.