Mirza Waheed
Mirza Waheed | |
|---|---|
 Mirza in 2016 | |
| Born | Mirza Waheed |
| Citizenship | British |
| Education | Kirori Mal College |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist and novelist |
| Notable credit(s) | Author of The Collaborator, The Book of Gold Leaves and Tell Her Everything |
| Children | 2 |
Mirza Waheed is a British novelist and writer. Born and raised in Srinagar, Mirza is known for writing that mainly revolves around the Kashmir conflict and insurgency. Mirza is based in London.[1]
Writing career
[edit]Mirza has written for the BBC, The Guardian, Granta, Guernica, Al Jazeera English and The New York Times.[1]
His first novel, The Collaborator, was published in 2011 and was a finalist for the Guardian First Book award. It takes place in his homeland of Kashmir, torn in conflict between India and Pakistan. Novelist Kamila Shamsie reviewed it for The Guardian and called it "gripping in its narrative drama...Mirza gives us a portrait of Kashmir itself. Away from the rhetorical posturing of India and Pakistan, he reveals, with great sensitivity and an anger that arises from compassion, what it is to live in a part of the world that is regarded by the national government as the enemy within, and by the government next door as a strategic puppet."[2]
Mirza's second novel, The Book of Gold Leaves, was published in 2014.[3] A love story between a Sunni and a Shi'ite in troubled 1990s Kashmir, it was reviewed by Alice Albinia in the Financial Times: "A haunting illustration of how, at the end of last century, normal life became impossible for many of those who call Kashmir home."[4]
His third novel, Tell Her Everything, was released in January 2019.[5] It is the story of a father who is preparing to reveal his own unsavory past to the now-grown daughter that he sent away to boarding school as a small child.[6]
Personal life
[edit]Mirza and his wife have a son and a daughter and he has said that he limits his book-promotion travels in order to stay home in London and care for them. He worked for the BBC for ten years, but quit in 2011 to devote himself full-time to writing and raising his children.[7]
He plays cricket for the Authors XI team, which is composed of British writers.[8]
Awards and honours
[edit]- 2011 "Books of the Year" for The Collaborator in The Telegraph,[9] New Statesman,[10] Business Standard[11] and Telegraph India.[12]
- 2011 Guardian First Book Award finalist for The Collaborator[13]
- 2011 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize finalist for The Collaborator[14]
- 2012 Desmond Elliott Prize longlist for The Collaborator[15]
- 2016 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature shortlist for The Book of Gold Leaves[16]
- 2019 The Hindu Literary Prize for Tell Her Everything[17]
Books
[edit]- The Collaborator (2012), ISBN 9780141048581
- The Book of Gold Leaves (2014), ISBN 9780241968109
- Tell Her Everything (2019), ISBN 9789387578890
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Mirza Waheed". Granta. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- ^ Shamsie, Kamila (4 March 2011). "The Collaborator by Mirza Waheed – review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- ^ "The Book of Gold Leaves". Penguin UK. Archived from the original on 24 November 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
- ^ Albinia, Alice (24 October 2014). "'The Book of Gold Leaves' by Mirza Waheed". The Financial Times. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- ^ Rose, Jaya. 2019 books to watch out for. https://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/books-and-art/060119/2019-books-to-watch-out-for.html Archived 23 January 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Deccan Chronicle . Retrieved 23 January 2019.
- ^ Ghoshal, Somak (17 March 2019). "Book Review: 'Tell Her Everything' by Mirza Waheed". Livemint. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- ^ Bhura, Sneha (6 April 2019). "Mirza Waheed on exploring intense father-daughter relationship in third book". The Week. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- ^ Authors Cricket Club (2013). The Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-4088-4045-0.
- ^ "Books of the Year 2011". The Telegraph. 18 November 2011. Archived from the original on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
- ^ "Books of the Year 2011: Hari Kunzru". New Statesman. 17 November 2011. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
- ^ "Nilanjana S Roy: The year in books - 2011 and 2012". Business Standard. 3 January 2012. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
- ^ "Breaking the Silence". The Telegraph India. 28 November 2011. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2011.
- ^ Ramaswamy, Chitra (1 November 2014). "The Book of Gold Leaves review – Mirza Waheed speaks up for Kashmir". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 July 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
- ^ "Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize shortlist announced". IBN Live. 28 November 2011. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
- ^ "The Desmond Elliott Prize 2015". Desmond Elliot. 2011. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
- ^ "DSC Prize 2016 Finalists". 26 November 2015. Archived from the original on 30 November 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
- ^ Krithika, R. (28 March 2020). "Freedom, we choose". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 24 August 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- Living people
- Indian Muslims
- Kashmiri Muslims
- Writers from Srinagar
- British journalists
- Journalists from Jammu and Kashmir
- 21st-century Indian novelists
- 21st-century British novelists
- British people of Indian descent
- British people of Kashmiri descent
- British Muslims
- Delhi University alumni
- Kashmiri writers
- Novelists from Jammu and Kashmir