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bookWORM; Kamila Shamsie: Intersection of the personal & political
JP/Christian RazukasIn Burnt Shadows, Pakistani-British author Kamila Shamsie begins with a Japanese woman fleeing to Delhi after the Americans bomb Nagasaki in 1945 and ends in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terror attacks
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JP/Christian Razukas
In Burnt Shadows, Pakistani-British author Kamila Shamsie begins with a Japanese woman fleeing to Delhi after the Americans bomb Nagasaki in 1945 and ends in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terror attacks.
In between, the 41-year-old writer puts her characters through the India/Pakistan partition, the South Asian A-bomb race, 'military contractors' and CIA plots in a story that sounds like an Ibn-e-Safi thriller, but which is at heart a moving story of love, family and loyalty.
It's unsurprising that Shamsie ' speaking at the Singapore Writer's Festival, where she was one of 69 international writers and 138 local authors making bows ' is sometimes billed as a 'political writer', a label she accepts while wondering how American and British authors can avoid the characterization.
'This doesn't happen for writers in Pakistan. You just grow up there with a realization that politics is here. It is an essential part of life,' Shamsie says, after discussing which year in Pakistani politics might be best done over. 'I'm not sure how you can be in part of a country that is such a force in the world and not want to examine it in your novels.'
When asked about favorite books, Shamsie ' named one of the best young British novelists by Granta, arguably the English-speaking world's most prestigious literary magazine ' cited authors with adroit mastery of language ' as well as those focusing on the intersection of politics and the personal.
'Maps for Lost Lovers' Nadeem Aslan
A really fine novel set in a Muslim town in North England and actually looks more closely and intelligently at what is happening and why there are certain issues around certain generations of miners.
'How to Be Both', Ali Smith
Ali Smith is one of the great
contemporary writers. She's an extraordinary writer and extremely
playful with language ' and a really deep thinker. Her voice is like no
one else. There's an intelligence at work there ' and an intelligent mix
of playfulness that is a really hard thing to get across. And also she
writes better about love than almost anyone else.
'In the Skin of a Lion', Michael Ondaatje
An old favorite. I think a lot of people have read The English Patient. In the Skin of a Lion came before and actually has some of the same characters, but is a great novel about migrants in Toronto. He deals with it so beautifully and sadly that you don't think 'I've read about migrant issues'. It talks about how different communities build up a city ' and become brought up in it. It's also one of the most exquisitely written books you'll find.
- JP/Christian Razukas
