Hanif Kureishi

• Date of birth - 5 December 1954.

• An English playwriter, screenwriter and

filmmaker, novelist and short story

writer.

• In 2008, The Times included Kureishi in

their list of "The 50 greatest British

writers since 1945".

• Was born in South London to a Pakistani father, and an

English mother.

• His father was from a wealthy family, most of whose members

moved to Pakistan after the Partition of British India in 1947.

• After his parents married, the family settled in Bromley where

Kureishi was born.

• He attended Bromley Technical High School and studied for A

levels at Bromley College of Technology.

• While at this college he was elected as Student Union

President (1972) and some of the characters from his semi-

autobiographical work The Buddha of Suburbia are from this

period.

• He went on to spend a year studying philosophy at Lancaster

University before dropping out.

• Later he attended King's College London and took a degree in

philosophy.

Race

Sexuality

ImmigrationNationalism

Islamism

Family’s relationship

Bibliography2009 The Black Album, play.

2008 Something to Tell You.

2005 The Word and the Bomb.

2004 When The Night Begins.

2004 My Ear at His Heart.

2003 The Mother.

2002 The Body and Other Stories.

2002 Dreaming and Scheming: Reflections on Writing and Politics.

2001 Gabriel's Gift.

1999 Sleep with Me.

1999 Midnight All Day.

1998 My Son, the Fanatic, screenplay.

1998 Intimacy.

1997 Love in a Blue Time.

1996 The Faber Book of Pop.

1995 The Black Album.

1991 London Kills Me: Screenplay.

1990 Buddha of Suburbia.

1986 My Beautiful Laundrette.

1983 Outskirts and Other Plays.

1983 Birds of Passage.

1981 Borderline.

• His most famous work is My Beautiful

Laundrette, a screenplay about a gay

Pakistani-British boy growing up in

1980's London for a film directed by

Stephen Frears. It won the New York

Film Critics Best Screenplay Award

and an Academy Award nomination for

Best Screenplay.

• His book The Buddha of Suburbia

(1990) won the Whitbread Award for

the best first novel, and was also made

into a BBC television series with a

soundtrack by David Bowie. This book

is about a mixed-race teenager who is

desperate to escape his suburban life in

South London .

• His novel Intimacy (1998)

revolved around the story of a

man leaving his wife and two

young sons after feeling

physically and emotionally

rejected by his wife. This created

certain controversy as Kureishi

himself had recently left his wife

and two young sons. It is assumed

to be at least semi-

autobiographical. In 2000/2001

the novel was loosely adapted to a

movie Intimacy by Patrice

Chéreau, which won two Bears at

the Berlin Film Festival: a Golden

Bear for Best Film, and a Silver

Bear for Best Actress (Kerry Fox).

It was controversial for its

unreserved sex scenes. The book

was translated into Persian by

Niki Karimi in 2005.

Awards2007 National Short Story Competition, shortlist - 'Weddings and Beheadings'

2007 CBE

1990 Whitbread First Novel Award, The Buddha of Suburbia

1981 George Devine Award, Outskirts

1980 Thames Television Playwright Award, The Mother Country

Kureishi is married and has twins and a younger son

• Do you think it is racist to attack the Islamic religion?

- I come from a Muslim family; I come from a Muslim country: Pakistan. I’m well

aware of how dangerous religions like Islam can be. It’s ridiculous to think it’s racist

to attack a religion. In fact, it’s racist not to attack a religion. These are systems of

power, huge political forces of the world—you have to speak back against

it, otherwise you exist in an authoritarian system. Look at the way these societies

have attacked and tortured intellectuals in the past, in places like Iran, Egypt and

Libya. The West has continued to patronise them and refuse to attack them. A very

robust exchange is extremely important.

• What does a good essay do for

the reader?- An essay isn’t a work of non-

fiction, it isn’t journalism as such.

It’s written to inspire, provoke and

ultimately to give pleasure to the

reader. Essays differ from fiction, in

that you don’t distribute yourself

amongst your characters. There is

one single full-on point of view.

• Did you find it difficult to become a writer?- It’s very difficult at the beginning, because you don’t

really know who you are, and you don’t know if you are

going to become the writer that you want to be. Until you

are established, you think: am I a writer? Or am I someone

who is pretending to be a writer? It was bloody hard work

getting there, but it’s fantastic to have done it.

Thank you for attention!