Does writing have a nationality? Are writers defined by geography, language, religion, gender and ethnicity alone, or are there other attributes that identify them?
Fifteen of the most articulate and creative non-fiction writers from Pakistan eloquently demonstrate that, as Sabyn Javeri says, ""Who you are is more accurately represented by what you stand for, than by where you are from.
Large-scale migration and transnational mobility have rendered national borders porous, while the Internet has internationalised communication in a way that practically erases teritorial boundaries. Questions about 'being' and 'belonging acquire an urgency that demands articulation: how does a writer relate to her context, whether at 'home' or 'away', and locate herself and her writing in it? For the purposes of this anthology, Javeri believes that, ""A Pakistani writer is one who feels a connection to the land either by origin or by sensibility.""
This rich and fascinating collection of reflections, reminiscences, musings-and excellent writing-features Taymiya R. Zaman, Hananah Zaheer, Feryal Ali Gauhar, Sadia Khatri, Saba Karim Khan, Sonlah Kamal, Kamila Shamsie, Sabyn Javeri, Rukhsana Ahmad, Humera Afridi, Muneeza Shamsie, Uzma Aslam Khan, Shahnaz Rouse, Noren Haq and Bina Shah.
They are among the best creative non-fiction writers anywhere.
Sabyn Javeri is Senior Lecturer of Writing. Literature & Creative Writing at New York University, Abu Dhabi. She is the author of Hijabistan, a collection of short stories, and of the novel, Nobody Killed Her. She has also edited two multilingual anthologies of student writing, The Arzu Anthology of Student Voices (Vols. 1 & I). Her writing has been widely anthologised and published in The London Magazine, Litro, The Bookends Review, South Asian Review, The Journal of Commonwealth Literature and Wasafiri, among others. She has an MSt from the University of Oxford and a PhD from the University of Leicester. Her research interests include transcultural feminism, South Asian literature, inclusive pedagogy and creative writing.
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