PAKISTANI LITERATURE IN ENGLISH

 Pakistani literature in English gained international recognition in the late 20th century, with pioneers like Bapsi Sidhwa, Sara Suleri, Hanif Kureishi, and Aamer Husain.The early 21st century saw more Pakistani novelists writing in English achieve international acclaim

**Mohsin Hamid**

Mohsin Hamid is known for his novels *Moth Smoke* (2000) and *The Reluctant Fundamentalist* (2007).He spent parts of his childhood in the United States and Lahore, Pakistan, before returning to the US for his higher education at Princeton University and Harvard Law School[cite: 113, 114, 115, 116, 119]. [cite_start]*Moth Smoke*, his first novel, was completed during time off from his management consulting job and became a cult hit in Pakistan and India, also being a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award.It was praised for its innovative structure and contemporary approach to South Asian fiction.His second novel, *The Reluctant Fundamentalist*, published in 2007, became an international bestseller, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won several awards Hamid's writing often explores themes of identity, war, and terrorism

**Kamila Shamsie**

Born in Karachi in 1973, Kamila Shamsie is a prominent novelist.She studied Creative Writing at Hamilton College and earned an MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Her first novel, *In The City By The Sea* (1998), was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and earned her the Prime Minister's Award for Literature in Pakistan.Her third novel, *Kartography* (2002), also received critical acclaim and a John Llewellyn Rhys award nominated Both *Kartography* and her fourth novel, *Broken Verses*, won the Patras Bukhari Award,Her fifth novel, *Burnt-Shadows*, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction.Shamsie's works have been translated into multiple languages[cite: 110]. [cite_start]She is the daughter of Muneeza Shamsie and niece of Attia Hussain.

**Ahmed Ali**

Ahmed Ali was a Pakistani novelist, diplomat, and scholar, born in Delhi, India, in 1910.He was a co-founder of the All-India Progressive Writers' Movement with the publication of *Angare* in 1932, a collection of short stories that was later banned.He gained international recognition for his novel *Twilight in Delhi*, first published in London in 1940.

**Attia Hussain**

Attia Hussain was born into a feudal family in Lucknow, India, in 1913.She was a keen observer of the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan.Her novel *Sunlight on a Broken Column* (1961) is considered a significant work about that tumultuous period.She also had a successful career as a BBC Urdu program presenter and in theatre and other media until her death in 1998.

**Zulfikar Ghose**

Zulfikar Ghose, a Pakistani-American English language writer, was born in Sialkot, India (now Pakistan) in 1935[cite: 31]. [cite_start]He moved to Bombay in 1942 and later to England after the partition.He is a prolific writer of poetry and prose, including *The Loss of India* and *The Triple Mirror of the Self. His novel *The Murder of Aziz Khan* was the first modern English novel by a writer of Pakistani origin[cite: 37].

**Hanif Kureishi**

Hanif Kureishi is a playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and filmmaker.His first novel, the semi-autobiographical *The Buddha of Suburbia* (1990), won the Whitbread First Novel Award and was adapted into a BBC television series. His works often explore themes of social identity, race relations in Britain, and issues facing the Muslim community. His screenplays include the Academy Award-nominated *My Beautiful Laundrette. Kureishi's later works include the play *Venus* (2007) and the novel *Something to Tell You* (2008).He was appointed a CBE in 2007 for his contributions to literature and drama.

**Sara Suleri**

Sara Suleri Goodyear (1953-) is an academic, critic, and writer, and a professor of English at Yale University. Her acclaimed creative memoirs, *Meatless Days* (1989) and *Boys Will Be Boys* (2003), explore the interweaving of national history and personal biography. *Meatless Days* is noted for its unique structure and tight prose.She has also translated a collection of ghazals by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib.

**Adam Zameenzad**

Adam Zameenzad was born in Pakistan and spent his early childhood in Nairobi.He is known for his novels that portray the lives of social outcasts, the deprived, and the dispossessed, aiming to give a voice to the voiceless. His published novels include *The Thirteenth House* (winner of the David Higham Prize) and *Pepsi and Maria.

**Tariq Ali**

Tariq Ali is a British-Pakistani historian, novelist, filmmaker, political campaigner, and commentator, born in Lahore in . He is known for his historical novels about Islam, such as *Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree* (1992), and numerous non-fiction works addressing politics and social history.He is also a regular broadcaster and contributes to various publications.

**Muneeza Shamsie**

Muneeza Shamsie is a Pakistani critic, bibliographer, and short story writer, known for editing three pioneering anthologies of Pakistani writing in English: *A Dragonfly In the Sun* (1997), *Leaving Home: Towards A New Millenium* (2001), and *And The World Changed: Contemporary Stories by Pakistani Women* (2005).Her works often address issues of colonialism, culture, language, and gender.She is the mother of Kamila Shamsie.

**Tahira Naqvi**

[cite_start]Raised and educated in Lahore, Pakistan, Tahira Naqvi is now settled in the United States, teaching English and Urdu. She has published two collections of short fiction and has widely translated Urdu fiction and prose by authors like Ismat Chughtai and Khadija Mastur.

**Bina Shah**

Bina Shah is a Pakistani journalist and writer based in Karachi.Her works include a volume of short stories titled *Animal Medicine* (2000), and novels such as *Where They Dream in Blue* (2001) and *The 786 Cybercafé* (2004)[cite: 142, 143]. [cite_start]Her English language novel *Slum Child* was published in Italy in 2009.

**Alamgir Hashmi**

[cite_start]Alamgir Hashmi is a major English poet of Pakistani origin, recognized for his avant-garde work from the 1970s onwards.His contributions extend to literary theory, criticism, historiography, and cultural studies, advocating for a "comparative" aesthetic.He also emphasizes the beauty and pleasure of language arts beyond their utilitarian aspects.

**Aamer Hussein**

Aamer Hussein is a Pakistani short story writer and critic who grew up in Karachi. He has taught Urdu and lectured in English departments, and is currently the Director of the MA program in National and International Literatures at the Advanced Study's Institute of English Studies (Senate House). His early short story collections received critical acclaim.