LITERARY ADAPTATIONS IN THE WORKS

Aravind Adiga's debut novel, Man Booker Prize-winning The White Tiger, is one of a number of upcoming literary adaptations from British filmmakers. A long list of projects recently awarded funding was released by the UK Film Council this week.

Adiga, whose work has been featured on the Roving Editor, will see The White Tiger brought to the screen by fellow novelist Hanif Kureishi. Kureishi recently commented, not entirely seriously, one suspects: 'I needed the money for my children – to ensure that they have a better life. The lives of my children are much more insecure compared to mine. I need to make films like Slumdog Millionaire.’ Elsewhere he said 'The White Tiger is a rags-to-riches murder story. It is Aravind's extraordinary characters that make this one stand out above all others.'

Among other forthcoming attractions. . .

• Conor McPherson is adapting Taichi Yamada's novel Strangers, with James Marsh(Man on Wire) set to direct. (There has already been a Japanese-language version.)
• Lynne Ramsay, who was unfortunately bumped from the adaptation of The Lovely Bones in favour of Peter Jackson, will write and direct We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Schriver. John C. Reilly and Tilda Swinton will take leading roles.
• Screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, (Slumdog Millionaire, The Full Monty), is adapting The Raw Shark Texts from the novel by Steven Hall, and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, from the novel by Paul Torday. Beaufoy recently told the Daily Telegraph: 'I'm very lucky. I actually like screenwriting. I rarely feel a sense of doom going to my desk.'
• Sadie Jones is writing the screenplay for her debut novel The Outcast for John Madden(Shakespeare in Love) to direct.
• And finally, yet another debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, is currently being adapted; this one by the venerable Christopher Hampton (Atonement, Dangerous Liaisons).