Nadeem Aslam
Encyclopedia
Nadeem Aslam is a prize-winning British Pakistani novelist.
's regime. The family settled in Huddersfield
, West Yorkshire
. He later studied biochemistry at the University of Manchester
, but left in his third year to become a writer.
He currently lives in north London.
in a Pakistani newspaper.
His debut novel, Season of the Rainbirds (1993), set in rural Pakistan, won the Betty Trask
and the Author's Club First Novel Award
.
He won widespread praise for his next novel Maps for Lost Lovers
(2004) which is set in the midst of an immigrant Pakistani community in an English town in the north. The novel took him more than a decade to complete, and won the Kiriyama Prize
.
Aslam's latest novel, The Wasted Vigil, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in September, 2008. It is set in Afghanistan
. He traveled to Afghanistan during the writing of the book; but had never visited the country before writing the first draft. On 11 February 2011, it was short-listed for the Warwick Prize For Writing
As writers he admires he has mentioned Vasko Popa
, Ivan V. Lalić
, Czesław Miłosz, Wisława Szymborska, Herman Melville
, John Berger
, VS Naipaul, Michael Ondaatje
, and Bruno Schulz
.
His writings have been compared to those by Chinua Achebe
, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
and Kiran Desai
and received an Encore in 2005. He writes his drafts in longhand and prefers extreme isolation when working.
Biography
Aslam moved with his family to England aged 14, when his father, a Communist, fled President ZiaMuhammad Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq , was the 4th Chief Martial Law Administrator and the sixth President of Pakistan from July 1977 to his death in August 1988...
's regime. The family settled in Huddersfield
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
. He later studied biochemistry at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
, but left in his third year to become a writer.
He currently lives in north London.
Writing career
At 13, Aslam published his first short story in UrduUrdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
in a Pakistani newspaper.
His debut novel, Season of the Rainbirds (1993), set in rural Pakistan, won the Betty Trask
Betty Trask Award
The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. The awards were established in 1984 by the Society of Authors, at the bequest of the late Betty Trask, a reclusive author of over thirty romance novels...
and the Author's Club First Novel Award
Author's Club First Novel Award
Authors' Club Best First Novel Award is awarded by the Authors' Club to the most promising first novel of the year, written by a British author and published in the UK during the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is presented....
.
He won widespread praise for his next novel Maps for Lost Lovers
Maps for Lost Lovers
Maps for Lost Lovers is a novel by the British Pakistani writer Nadeem Aslam. Ostensibly about the murder of a pair of lovers, the book is in fact a minute dissection of working-class Pakistani immigrant communities that have settled in the north of England over the last 40 years.Aslam spent 11...
(2004) which is set in the midst of an immigrant Pakistani community in an English town in the north. The novel took him more than a decade to complete, and won the Kiriyama Prize
Kiriyama Prize
The Kiriyama Prize is an international literary award given to books which will encourage greater understanding of and among the peoples and nations of the Pacific Rim and South Asia...
.
Aslam's latest novel, The Wasted Vigil, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in September, 2008. It is set in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. He traveled to Afghanistan during the writing of the book; but had never visited the country before writing the first draft. On 11 February 2011, it was short-listed for the Warwick Prize For Writing
As writers he admires he has mentioned Vasko Popa
Vasko Popa
- Biography :Popa was born in the village of Grebenac , Vojvodina, Serbia. After finishing high school, he enrolled as a student of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy. He continued his studies at the University of Bucharest and in Vienna...
, Ivan V. Lalić
Ivan V. Lalic
Ivan V. Lalić was a Serbian poet with a reputation as one of the finest European poets of his time.-Biography:...
, Czesław Miłosz, Wisława Szymborska, Herman Melville
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
, John Berger
John Berger
John Peter Berger is an English art critic, novelist, painter and author. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing, written as an accompaniment to a BBC series, is often used as a university text.-Education:Born in Hackney, London, England, Berger was...
, VS Naipaul, Michael Ondaatje
Michael Ondaatje
Philip Michael Ondaatje , OC, is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian novelist and poet of Burgher origin. He is perhaps best known for his Booker Prize-winning novel, The English Patient, which was adapted into an Academy-Award-winning film.-Life and work:...
, and Bruno Schulz
Bruno Schulz
Bruno Schulz was a Polish writer, fine artist, literary critic and art teacher born to Jewish parents, and regarded as one of the great Polish-language prose stylists of the 20th century. Schulz was born in Drohobycz, in the province of Galicia then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and spent...
.
His writings have been compared to those by Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe
Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe popularly known as Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic...
, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer.Her family is of Igbo descent. In 2008 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.-Early life and education:...
and Kiran Desai
Kiran Desai
Kiran Desai is an Indian author who is a citizen of India and a permanent resident of the United States. Her novel The Inheritance of Loss won the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Fiction Award...
and received an Encore in 2005. He writes his drafts in longhand and prefers extreme isolation when working.
Prizes and awards
- For Season of the Rainbirds
- Betty Trask AwardBetty Trask AwardThe Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. The awards were established in 1984 by the Society of Authors, at the bequest of the late Betty Trask, a reclusive author of over thirty romance novels...
1994 - The Author's Club First Novel AwardAuthor's Club First Novel AwardAuthors' Club Best First Novel Award is awarded by the Authors' Club to the most promising first novel of the year, written by a British author and published in the UK during the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is presented....
1993 - The Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys PrizeJohn Llewellyn Rhys PrizeThe John Llewellyn Rhys Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom...
(shortlist) 1994 - The Whitbread First Novel AwardCosta Book AwardsThe Costa Book Awards are a series of literary awards given to books by authors based in Great Britain and Ireland. They were known as the Whitbread Book Awards until 2005, after which Costa Coffee, a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship....
(shortlist) 1994
- Betty Trask Award
- For Maps for Lost Lovers
- The Encore AwardEncore AwardThe £10,000 Encore Award for the best second novel - now awarded biennially - was first awarded in 1990. It is administered by the Society of Authors and is sponsored by Lucy Astor. The award fills a niche in the catalogue of literary prizes by celebrating the achievement of outstanding second...
2005 - The Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book PrizeKiriyama PrizeThe Kiriyama Prize is an international literary award given to books which will encourage greater understanding of and among the peoples and nations of the Pacific Rim and South Asia...
2005 - British Book AwardsBritish Book AwardsThe Galaxy National Book Awards are a series of British literary awards focused on the best UK writers and their works, as selected by an academy of members from the British book publishing industry...
Decibel Writer of the Year (shortlist) 2006 - International IMPAC Dublin Literary AwardInternational IMPAC Dublin Literary AwardThe International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is an international literary award for a work of fiction, jointly sponsored by the city of Dublin, Ireland and the company IMPAC. At €100,000 it is one of the richest literary prizes in the world...
(shortlist) 2006
- The Encore Award