Nadeem AslamFRSL | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Aslam in 2016 | |
| Born | (1966-06-11)11 June 1966 (age 59) |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Citizenship | Pakistani, British |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester (Drop-out) |
| Period | 1993––present |
| Genre | Novel,Essay |
| Literary movement | Realism,Postmodernism,Imagism,Postcolonialism |
| Notable works | Maps for Lost Lovers The Blind Man's Garden The Golden Legend |
| Notable awards | Betty Trask Award 1994 Author's Club First Novel Award 1993 Encore Award 2005 Kiriyama Prize 2005 Windham–Campbell Literature Prize 2014 |
Nadeem AslamFRSL (born 11 July 1966 inGujranwala, Pakistan)[1] is aBritish Pakistani novelist. Hisdebut novel,Season of the Rainbirds, won theBetty Trask and theAuthor's Club First Novel Award. His critically acclaimed second novelMaps for Lost Lovers wonEncore Award andKiriyama Prize; it was shortlisted forInternational Dublin Literary Award, among others.Colm Tóibín described him as "one of the most exciting and serious British novelists writing now".
His most recent book isThe Golden Legend (2017).
Nadeem Aslam moved with his family to the UK aged 14 when his father, aCommunist, fledPresident Zia's regime. The family settled inHuddersfield,West Yorkshire. He later studied biochemistry at theUniversity of Manchester, but left in his third year to become a writer.[2]
At 13, Aslam published his first short story inUrdu in a Pakistani newspaper.[citation needed]
His 1993 debut novel,Season of the Rainbirds, set in rural Pakistan, won theBetty Trask and theAuthor's Club First Novel Award.Salman Rushdie described it as 'One of the most impressive first novels of the recent years'.
His next novel, 2004'sMaps for Lost Lovers, is set in the midst of animmigrant Pakistani community in an English town in the north. The novel took him more than a decade to complete and won theEncore Award andKiriyama Prize.[3] It was long-listed for theMan Booker Prize.
Aslam's third novel,The Wasted Vigil, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in September 2008.[4] It is set inAfghanistan. He travelled to Afghanistan during the writing of the book;[5] but had never visited the country before writing the first draft.[6] On 11 February 2011, it was short-listed for the Warwick Prize for Writing[7]
Aslam's fourth novel isThe Blind Man's Garden (2013). It is set in Western Pakistan and Eastern Afghanistan and looks at theWar on Terror through the eyes of local, Islamist characters. It contains also a love story loosely based on the traditional Punjabi romance ofHeer Ranjha.[citation needed] The Blind Man's Garden was shortlisted for theOndaatje Prize 2014, which is given by theRoyal Society of Literature.
He has mentionedVasko Popa,Ivan V. Lalić,Czesław Miłosz,Wisława Szymborska,Herman Melville,John Berger,VS Naipaul,Michael Ondaatje, andBruno Schulz.[5] as the writers that he admires.
His writings have been compared to those byChinua Achebe,Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie andKiran Desai. Aslam received an Encore in 2005. He writes his drafts inlonghand and prefers extreme isolation when working.[8]
He was made a fellow of theRoyal Society of Literature in 2012.[9]
