Shaila Abdullah

Orange Prize Shortlist: Burnt Shadows in the mix

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Great news shared by Muneeza Shamsie this morning. Kamila Shamsie’s novel Burnt Shadows is shortlisted in the Orange Prize for Fiction. Congratulations, Kamila!

Bloomsbury is offering a 24-hour free download offering of Shamsie’s novel, starting April 22 at 12 noon. Visit the site to download the book.

Here is the complete shortlist:
Burnt Shadows, Kamila Shamsie
Scottsboro, by Ellen Feldman
The Wilderness, Samantha Harvey
The Invention of Everything Else, by Samantha Hunt
Molly Fox’s Birthday, Deirdre Madden
Home, by Marilynne Robinson

Read about Kamila Shamsie’s tribute to the three generations of women writers in her family.

Midnight’s Stepchild- A review of Pakistani Writing in English (PWE)-Part 2

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Freelance writer, Donald Hubbard is a guest blogger today on Cayenne Lit with his insightful look into the great phenomenon that is Pakistani Writing in English (PWE). Here is his second post on the subject:

Reading the fiction of Pakistan is akin to coming up on an accident and we can’t avert our gaze––we must know what’s happened and who’s involved and what will happen next . . . are there any survivors? Pakistan is a riveting spectacle that demands our attention, with the always looming possibility of becoming a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. Yet, we can’t look away. We must know why, we must look. We’re compelled to analyze the causes and search for meaning as we crane our neck to catch a glimpse of the carnage. It’s exciting and dangerous and we’re always glad it’s not us.

Today, as I write this, a mosque explodes along the fabled Khyber pass. How is a writer to respond to this level of tragedy? I begin to despair that maybe nothing will ever change. That this is Pakistan. I’m suddenly confronted with images of survivors clawing through the rubble, over and through the still warm bloody aftermath, weeping, wondering, looking about as if in a dream – questioning. The mosque leader exulting “God is Great” suddenly realizes: This is the end of everything. Within the crumbling walls of that small mosque we get a microcosmic view of Pakistan’s troubled relationship with the rest of the world. The women anxiously waiting for news of loved ones. The hauled out bodies covered in dust and blood. That only these will be the unbearable realities we write about.

But there are other stories to tell, because Pakistan is not merely militants and exploded mosques. The best of the PWE urgently implores us to witness another side of the story. Yes, there are widows who sift through the rubble for a piece of the past to hold onto, but ultimately they endure – they prevail. There are the survivors who experience loss but still move inexorably forward, day by day, from event to response, dust to dust. There are victims of all types, from the suicide bomber and those he kills, to the deranged general and those he oppresses, to the venal politicians and those that suffer hunger and thirst, to the very land that trembles with bomb blasts and marching armies.

So if we are to truly understand Pakistan, it will be explained to us best through its fiction. By the startling range and depth of the novels of Shamsie, Hamid and Hanif. By encountering moments of perfection in Daniyal Mueenuddin’s brilliant book of short stories In Other Rooms, Other Wonders. And we begin to sense that there is indeed more to Pakistan than what we see in the news footage and videos of burning buildings and obscene rubble, beyond the carnage and destruction and grief and sadness and loss. There is something deeper, profound. There is a yearning for validation and a desire to simply exist in peace. That even in the midst of this existential state of impending peril can be found stories filled with wonder, beauty, and humour.

There are stories of the sameness that link us with common bonds of humanity that stretch across time and continents and cultures; the same genetic hardwiring that produces such shared realities as karma and martyrdom and grace and redemption. These stories, the story of Pakistan, are worth telling. They must be told. Like Arissa Illahi, the heroine in Shaila Abdullah’s exquisite short novel Saffron Dreams, the time has come to throw off the veil, real and metaphorical, let it drift down on the winds of change and be swept away in the currents of history. The time is now to finally awaken, to reinvent.

The time has come for Pakistan and its people, whether inside its chaotic borders or in the diaspora, to be treated as more than just 1947 and Partition and a derogatory definition of midnight’s stepchild. And the time has come, finally, to celebrate its burgeoning fictional landscape, the beginning of a new love affair – mature and thriving – that’s writing itself out from the shadow of the mighty Rushdie and has thrown down the gauntlet to a new generation of Indian Writers in English. The writers of PWE can no longer be treated as literary stepchildren – they have found, through vision heart and sheer talent, a unique and beautiful voice of their own.

About Donald Hubbard
Donald Hubbard has always been fascinated with other cultures, places and peoples. A well-read student of U.S. foreign policy with an area of expertise in South Asia, his natural curiosity and research led him to a specific interest in the troubled country of Kashmir, which was introduced to him in the 1980s after reading Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. Since that time his love affair and particular affinity for the land and its people has become something of a curious obsession. He is currently at work on a novel set in Kashmir. As a book collector, autodidact and avid reader, his personal library has grown over the past twenty-five years and is now approaching 1800 volumes of modern literary fiction, nonfiction (especially current events and world politics/history), Kashmir history and fiction, religious history, science, and world literature with an emphasis on post-colonial Indian literature.

Midnight’s Stepchild- A review of Pakistani Writing in English (PWE)-Part 1

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Freelance writer, Donald Hubbard is a guest blogger today on Cayenne Lit with his insightful look into the great phenomenon that is Pakistani Writing in English (PWE). Here is the first of his two posts on the subject:

Pakistani Writing in English (PWE) has been shaped by two seminal mirroring events of the real and metaphorical midnights of Partition from India in 1947 and the publication of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children in the 1980s. The former event left Pakistan, its land and its people, a geographic stepchild, seen in largely derogatory terms; a country that has been maligned, misunderstood and seemingly broken. In Bapsi Sidhwa’s Cracking India, even the title suggests a splitting apart – like a wishbone – only with Pakistan left holding the ugly, stubbed bone of Partition.

The latter event put postcolonial Indian literature on the map, made its author a literary superstar, while Pakistani writers remained largely speechless – stifled and suppressed – the literary stepchildren of both midnights, overshadowed by the rich storytelling and infinite fecundity of Rushdie’s India. Haunted by stigma, PWE has struggled to find a unique voice, forever waiting for its own “Midnight’s Children moment.” But perhaps what the critics fail to realize is that we may be witnessing that moment now.

And in this moment we have watched as the barren artistic scene in Pakistan suddenly blossomed with some truly high quality fiction. Unquestionably one of the most thought-provoking and accomplished novels of 2007 was Moshin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. For the first time, the Booker shortlist considered a Pakistani writer, and as a result of this recognition, coupled with a liberalization of political policies on censorship, came an exuberant awakening of Pakistan’s literary soul.

In the compressed space of a few years came Mohammed Hanif’s bold debut novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes, which made the 2008 Booker shortlist, the remarkable Nadeem Aslam’s The Wasted Vigil and Uzma Aslam Khan’s Trespassing, and Kamila Shamsie’s forthcoming Burnt Shadows, an ambitious narrative that may be competing for a spot on the Booker list with the youthful Ali Sethi’s debut novel, The Wish Maker (June 2009). These original new voices have begun a trend that effectively ends the years of literary inequality and drought.

But the trajectory of PWE is closely linked with that of Pakistan’s future. In a country thought of as nothing more than bloodthirsty jihadis, military dictatorships and oppressed women, fiction may well be the only way the West is likely to gain insightful exposure to Pakistan. A country where the future is so uncertain the ordinary citizen may wonder if there will ever be any lasting peace, or will the country dissolve completely into a failed state, spilling out an army of militant Muslims and nuclear weapons in all directions? Yet, it’s in the midst of that turmoil, the tension and uncertainty, that great literature is born. That is where PWE will forge its own identity, its own defining moment. Where it will meet and depart from Rushdie and company and become its own unique experience.

To be continued…

About Donald Hubbard
Donald Hubbard has always been fascinated with other cultures, places and peoples. A well-read student of U.S. foreign policy with an area of expertise in South Asia, his natural curiosity and research led him to a specific interest in the troubled country of Kashmir, which was introduced to him in the 1980s after reading Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. Since that time his love affair and particular affinity for the land and its people has become something of a curious obsession. He is currently at work on a novel set in Kashmir. As a book collector, autodidact and avid reader, his personal library has grown over the past twenty-five years and is now approaching 1800 volumes of modern literary fiction, nonfiction (especially current events and world politics/history), Kashmir history and fiction, religious history, science, and world literature with an emphasis on post-colonial Indian literature.

Recommended Reading List of Pakistani Writing in English

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Courtesy of Donald Hubbard

Moshin Hamid – The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), Moth Smoke (2000)

Kamila Shamsie – Burnt Shadows (March 2009), Broken Verses (2005), Kartography (2002), Salt and Saffron (2000), In the City by the Sea (1998)

Mohammed Hanif – A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008)

Daniyal Mueenuddin – In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (short stories) (2009)

Ali Sethi – The Wish Maker (June 2009 US, July 2009 UK)

Nadeem Aslam – The Wasted Vigil (2008), Maps for Lost Lovers (2004), Season of the Rainbirds (1993)

Uzma Aslam Khan – The Geometry of God (2008), Trespassing (2003)

Shaila Abdullah – Saffron Dreams (2009), Beyond the Cayenne Wall: Collection of Short Stories (2005)

Azhar Abidi – Twilight (2008, US as The House of Bilqis, April 2009)

Musharraf Ali Farooqi – The Story of a Widow (2008)

Muneeza Shamsie – And The World Changed: Contemporary Stories by Pakistani Women (2005), Leaving Home: Towards A New Millennium: A Collection of English Prose by Pakistani Writers (2001), A Dragonfly in the Sun: An Anthology of Pakistani Writing in English (1997)

Moni Mohsin – The Diary of a Social Butterfly (March 2009), The End of Innocence (2006)

Aamer Hussein – Another Gulmohar Tree (May 2009 UK), Kahani: Short Stories by Pakistani Women (editor) (2005), Cactus Town and Other Stories (short stories) (2003)

Tahira Naqvi – Attar of Roses and Other Stories from Pakistan (1998), Dying in a Strange Country (linked stories) (2001)

Suhayl Saadi – Joseph’s Box (July 2009 UK), Psychoraag (2004)

Bapsi Sidhwa – The Crow Eaters (1978, Lahore), The Pakistani Bride (2008, originally published as The Bride, 1983), Cracking India (1991, originally published as Ice Candy Man, 1988), An American Brat (1993)

Zulfikar Ghose – The Murder of Aziz Khan (1967)

Sadat Hasan Manto – Mottled Dawn: Fifty Sketches and Stories of Partition (collection containing Manto’s unforgettable ‘Toba Tek Singh,’ first published in 1955) (2004)

Ahmed Ali – Twilight in Delhi (1940). Pre-Partition portrait of New Delhi.

Khushwant Singh – Train to Pakistan (1956). The 2006 edition of Train to Pakistan, published by Roli Books in New Delhi, also contains 66 photographs by Margaret Bourke-White that capture the partition’s violent aftermath.

Comprehensive List of Pakistani Writers

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Lately, there has been a rising interest in Pakistani literature, especially Pakistani Writing in English (PWE) or Pakistani Anglophone Writing (PAW). I am compiling a list of Pakistani Writers (of English and other languages) and will update this list periodically with appropriate links. If you see an error in names or linkages, please email me:

  1. Aamina Ahmad
  2. Aamer Hussein
  3. Ahmad Ali
  4. Ahmad Nadeem Qasimi | Wiki
  5. Ahmed Faraz | Wiki
  6. Ahmed Hamaish
  7. Alamgir Hashmi
  8. Alauddin Masood
  9. Ali Sethi
  10. Altaf Fatima
  11. Altaf Gauhar
  12. Amar Jaleel
  13. Amar Sindhu
  14. Anwar Enayatullah
  15. Dr. Anwar Sadeed
  16. Dr. Aasif Farrukhi
  17. Dr. Anwar Naseem
  18. Badshah Munir Bukhari
  19. Bapsi Sidhwa
  20. Bina Shah
  21. Bushra Rehman
  22. Daniyal Mueenuddin
  23. Daud Kamal
  24. Fahmida Riaz | Wiki
  25. Faiz Ahmed Faiz
  26. Faryal Gohar
  27. Fawzia Afzal Khan
  28. Hakim Said
  29. Hima Raza (deceased) | Remembering Hima
  30. Humera Afridi
  31. Dr. Jameel Jalbi
  32. Iftikhar Aarif
  33. Ihsan Danish
  34. Ismail Ahmedani
  35. Junus Said
  36. Kamila Shamsie
  37. Kishwar Naheed | Wiki
  38. Mazhar Hussain Rehmani
  39. Maniza Naqvi
  40. Mohammad Tanzeel-ul-siddiqi al-husaini
  41. Mohsin Hamid
  42. Muhammad Munawwar Mirza
  43. Mohammed Hanif
  44. Mumtaz Mufti
  45. Muneeza Shamsie
  46. Muniruddin Ahmed
  47. Mazhar-ul-Islam
  48. Mansha Yaad
  49. Mirza Hamid Baig
  50. Dr. Naseer Ahmad Nasir
  51. Naseer Ahmed Nasir
  52. Noon Meem Rashid
  53. Nasir Kazmi
  54. Nasir Baghdadi
  55. Nasir Zaidi (deceased) | Wiki
  56. Nayyara Rahman
  57. Nisar Farooqi
  58. Partawi Shah
  59. Perveen Shakir (deceased) | Wiki
  60. Qaisra Shahraz
  61. Qudrat Ullah Shahab
  62. Rasheed Ahmed Siddique
  63. Dr. Rasheed Amjad
  64. Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi
  65. Roshni Rustomji
  66. Saadat Hasan Manto
  67. Dr. Saleem Akhtar
  68. Sehba Sarwar
  69. Saeed Rashid
  70. Sabyn Javeri Jillani
  71. Sara Suleri Goodyear
  72. Sarfraz Manzoor
  73. Shaikh Ayaz | Wiki
  74. Shaila Abdullah
  75. Shahrukh Husain
  76. Shahzad Ahmed
  77. Shandana Minhas
  78. Sheba Karim
  79. Shuja Nawaz
  80. S. M. Ayub
  81. Sonia Kamal
  82. Sorayya Khan
  83. Syed Kashif Raza
  84. Tahir Alauddin
  85. Tahir Aslam Gora
  86. Tahira Naqvi | SAWNET
  87. Tajammul Hussain
  88. Talat Abbasi
  89. Tariq Ali
  90. Taufiq Rafat
  91. Tehmina Durrani
  92. Umaira Ahmed | Wiki
  93. Uzma Aslam Khan
  94. Wasif Ali Wasif
  95. Dr. Wazir Agha
  96. Yousaf Saleem Chishti
  97. Zaib-un-nissa Hamidullah
  98. Zahir Faruqu
  99. Zulfikar Ghose

Other Resources

References

  • Pakistani Literature: The Contemporary English Writers edited by Alamgir Hashmi (New York: World University Service, 1978; Islamabad: Gulmohar Press, 1987) (2nd ed.). ISBN 000500408X (OCLC # 19328427; LC Card # 87931006)
  • A Dragonfly in the Sun: An Anthology of Pakistani Writing in English edited by Muneeza Shamsie (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1997). ISBN 0195777840
  • Leaving Home: Towards a New Millennium: A Collection of English Prose by Pakistani Writers edited by Muneeza Shamsie (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2001). ISBN 0195795296
  • Post Independence Voices in South Asian Writings edited by Alamgir Hashmi, Malashri Lal and Victor Ramraj (Islamabad: Alhamra, 2001). ISBN 969-516-093-X

Pakistani Writing in English Gains Momentum

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There is growing literary landscape of Pakistani Writing in English (PWE) that has found its way into the reader’s hearts. It is the whole idea of literature opening gateways to out-of-reach destinations. Jai Arjun Singh of Business Standard explores the new interest. See below:

Pakistani writing in English is finding new and dynamic ways to chronicle the many different realities of the country.

“Good literature tells you so many things about other lives,” says Nadeem Aslam in his characteristic soft tone. We’re sitting on the lawns of Jaipur’s Diggi Palace, where the annual literature festival is being held, and the eloquent Pakistani author is talking about how his relationship with Latin America began when he read Marquez for the first time — and how “the 400 pages of One Hundred Years of Solitude made me deeply interested in the lives of millions of people in countries I had never visited”

Aslam himself is part of a growing literary landscape —that of Pakistani Writing in English (PWE) — and the idea of literature opening gateways to other worlds and other people (or, equally importantly, showing that the “other” isn’t so unlike us) has become increasingly relevant here. While Pakistani Anglophone writers like Aamer Hussain, Kamila Shamsie, Uzma Aslam Khan and Mohsin Hamid have been around for a while, the publishing world is seeing the advent of exciting new names such as Daniyal Mueenuddin, Mohammed Hanif and Ali Sethi. In different ways, the work of all these writers reveals the heterogeneity of Pakistan, a country that is frequently stereotyped and tarred with a single brush by the international community. It also suggests that literature’s ability to help us understand and empathise is of vital importance at the present moment.
Read the full article.