Ranjana Ash obituary

Ranjana Ash, who has died aged 90, was a leading advocate of south Asian literature. Her knowledge of the great writers of India was immense. Unusually, she had an equivalent sympathy for African writing, and indeed for aspirational authors from many parts of the developing world.

She became an authority on the work of the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, and contributed chapters and articles to many publications, including the journal of postcolonial writing Kunapipi, the international literary quarterly Wasafiri and the poetry magazine PN Review, often writing about female authors from the south Asian diaspora.