Kamila Shamsie

Kamila Shamsie
Kamila Naheed
Shamsie[1]
Born

1973 (age4041)

Occupation Writer
Nationality Pakistani
British
Genres

Novels

Kamila Shamsie (born 1973) is a Pakistani novelist who writes in the English language.

Background
Shamsie is the daughter of the famous literary journalist, compiler and editor Muneeza Shamsie, niece of Attia
Hosain and granddaughter of the writer, Begum Jahanara Habibullah. Her sister Saman Shamsie used to be a college
counselor and taught O-level Physics and SAT writing and reading at Karachi Grammar School. She was brought up
in Karachi and attended Karachi Grammar School. She has a BA in Creative Writing from Hamilton College, and an
MFA from the MFA Program for Poets & Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she was
influenced by the Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Ali.

Career
Shamsie wrote her first novel, In The City by the Sea, while still at UMass, and it was published in 1998. It was
shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in the UK, and Shamsie received the Prime Minister's Award for
Literature in Pakistan in 1999. Her second novel, Salt and Saffron, followed in 2000, after which she was selected as
one of Orange's 21 Writers of the 21st century. Her third novel, Kartography, received widespread critical acclaim
and was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys award in the UK. Both Kartography and her next novel, Broken
Verses, have won the Patras Bokhari Award from the Academy of Letters in Pakistan. Her fifth novel Burnt Shadows
was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her books have been translated in a number of languages.
She is also a reviewer and columnist primarily for The Guardian and has been a judge for several literary
awards, including the Orange Award for New Writers and the Guardian First Book Award.
In 2009, Kamila Shamsie donated the short story "The Desert Torso" to Oxfam's Ox-Tales project four collections
of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the Air collection.[2]
She participated in the Bush Theatre's 2011 project Sixty Six, with a piece based on a chapter of the King James
Bible[3]
In 2013 she was included in the Granta list of 20 best young writers,.[4]

Kamila Shamsie

Books

In the City by the Sea (1998) ISBN 0-14-028181-9

Salt and Saffron (2000) ISBN 1-58234-261-X
Kartography (2002) ISBN 0-15-602973-1
Broken Verses (2005) ISBN 0-15-603053-5
Offence : the Muslim case (2009) ISBN 1-906497-03-6
Burnt Shadows (2009) ISBN 0-312-55187-8
A God in Every Stone (2014) ISBN 1408847206

References
[1] Kamila Shamsie on applying for British Citizenship (http:/ / www. theguardian. com/ uk-news/ 2014/ mar/ 04/
author-kamila-shamsie-british-citizen-indefinite-leave-to-remain) Kamila Shamsie The Guardian 4 March 2014 Retrieved 5 March 2014
[2] The Desert Torso A short story from the 'OX-Tales' series (http:/ / www. independent. co. uk/ arts-entertainment/ books/ features/
oxtales-the-desert-torso-1727614. html) She recently attended the Jaipur Literature Festival 2011 where she spoke about her style of writing.
[3] http:/ / www. bushtheatre. co. uk/ biography/ writers/
[4] http:/ / www. granta. com/ Archive/ 123

External links
Kamila Shamsie talks about Burnt Shadows (http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/wbc/all) on the BBC's
World Book Club
Kamila Shamsie at Bloomsbury Publishing (http://www.bloomsbury.com/kamilashamsie)
Article in the Guardian on Kamila Shamsie (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/may/01/
kamila-shamsie-books-fiction-women)
"The Storytellers of Empire" (http://www.guernicamag.com/features/shamsie_02_01_2012/) in Guernica,
February 2012

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Kamila Shamsie Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=598733488 Contributors: AmeriDesi, Amorrow, Arachrah, Arunreginald, Awais141, Aziz32, BaryRosa, Bhadani,
Bluemoose, CRKingston, Caerwine, Captain Assassin!, CommonsDelinker, D6, Dewan357, Dimadick, EdQuine, Edton, Egalitus, Enzino, Exitr, FactFinder, Fratrep, FrenchieAlexandre, Gene
Nygaard, Gilash89, Gunther73, Hrh80, JBellis, Jeanenawhitney, JeffreySonstein, Kelly Martin, Khalid Mahmood, Khnrowland, Kintetsubuffalo, Ktr101, Le Grey, Lova Falk, MER-C, Mar4d,
Mukerjee, Nfeik, Novaseminary, OLough, Ohconfucius, Owen, Pacifist94, Pectore, Platitudesofpoe, Proscribe, Rholton, Richhoncho, Rjwilmsi, Rzafar, Salamurai, ShelfSkewed, Spasage, The
Happy Witch, The wub, Victuallers, Virwoolf, Waacstats, Wizardman, 29 anonymous edits

License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
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