Mohammed Hanif (born November 1964) is a British-Pakistani writer and journalist. His work has been published by The New York Times, The Daily Telegraph, The New Yorker and The Washington Post. Hanif worked as a correspondent for the BBC News based in Karachi and was the writer of a feature film about the city, The Long Night. Hanif has written four novels, A Case of Exploding Mangoes.,Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, Red Birds, and Rebel English Academy as well as a play, The Dictator's Wife, which was staged at the Hampstead Theatre.
Life He was born in Okara, Punjab. He graduated from Pakistan Air Force Academy as a pilot officer, but subsequently left to pursue a career in journalism."Author Spotlight: Mohammed Hanif " , Random House He initially worked for Newsline and wrote for The Washington Post and India Today. He is a graduate of the University of East Anglia. In 1996, he moved to London to work for the BBC. Later, he became the head of the BBC's Urdu service in London. He moved back to Pakistan in 2008.
Works His first novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008) was shortlisted for the 2008 Guardian First Book Award and longlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize.Prize Archive 2008, , The Man Booker Prize website. Retrieved 5 February 2012.It won the 2009 Commonwealth Book Prize in the Best First Book category2009 Winners, , The Commonwealth Foundation Website. Retrieved 5 February 2012. and the 2008 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize."The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize 2008 – The Winner", Remembering Shakti Bhatt webpage, 27 January 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2012. It also won Corine Literature Prize in 2009.
Hanif has also written for the stage and screen, including a feature film, The Long Night (2002), a BBC radio play, What Now, Now That We Are Dead?, and the stage play The Dictator's Wife (2008). "Recent Wave Activity: The Dictator's Wife". , The Wave Theatre Website. Retrieved 5 February 2012. His second novel, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, was published in 2011.Yassin-Kassab, Robin (7 October 2007), "Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif – review". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2012. It was shortlisted for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize (2012), and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature (2013).In 2018, Hanif was honored with Sitara-e-Imtiaz.
He is currently collaborating with composer Mohammed Fairouz on an opera titled Bhutto.
In 2018, he wrote a novel called Red Birds.
Hanif's style has often been compared with that of the author Salman Rushdie, although Hanif himself disagrees with this assessment. Once, to a question if he had grown up wanting to be a writer like Salman Rushdie, he said that while "[e]verybody of a certain age wanted to write like Rushdie and so did I", he would not want being "hunted around the world."Masih, Archana (18 January 2012), "The Mohammed Hanif interview", rediff.com. Retrieved 26 July 2012. Awards and honors + Awards for Mohammed Hanif's writing Year Work Award Result Ref. 2008 A Case of Exploding Mangoes Guardian First Book Award Shortlist 2008 Man Booker Prize Longlist 2008 Shakti Bhatt Prize First Book Prize Winner 2009 Commonwealth Book Prize (Best First Book) Winner 2009 Corine Literature Prize Winner 2012 Our Lady of Alice Bhatti Wellcome Trust Book Prize Shortlist 2013 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature Winner Award Return In opposition to Pakistan's ongoing persecution of the Baloch people and police crackdown during a protest march in Islamabad on 20 December 2023, Mohammed Hanif has returned his "Sitara-e-Imtiaz" award.
Bibliography
Films The Long Night (Script) (2002)
Books A Case of Exploding Mangoes (Novel)(2008) Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (Novel)(2011) The Baloch who is not missing and others who are (2013) Red Birds (Novel)(2018) Rebel English Academy (Novel)(2026)
Plays What Now, Now That We Are Dead? (radio play) The Dictator's Wife (2008)
Personal life Hanif is married to the actress Nimra Bucha.
References
External links
Man Booker Prize Interview An interview with M. Hanif on "Our Lady of Alice Bhatti"
Mohammed Hanif: My Country, Caving to the Taliban Adil Najam, "Mohammed Hanif's Ten Myths About Pakistan", All Things Pakistan, 11 January 2009 Audio slideshow interview with Mohammed Hanif talking about A Case of Exploding Mangoes on The Interview Online Audio: Mohammed Hanif in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion programme The Forum "Mohammed Hanif on being longlisted for the Man Booker", manbookerprise.com Interview with Mohammed Hanif: "People Did Not Want the Taliban" Mohammad Hanif articles on BBC Urdu Interview with Papercuts literary magazine on writing technique, elitism in Pakistani writing in English and hypocrisy in Pakistani society