October 2012

Kamila Shamsie

Resident in the Room from 26 - 29 October 2012

"Is it strange - or not at all strange - that travel writing has traditionally been so strongly associated with women but exploration is seen as a man’s game? On this ship going nowhere, as I write, I am aware of two women who grew up in purdah, and first left that world of seclusion behind in order to travel."

Photograph by Tom Oldham

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Kamila Shamsie was born in 1973 in Pakistan. She is the author of four previous novels: In the City by the Sea, Kartography (both shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), Salt and Saffron, Broken Verses and Burnt Shadows, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and has been translated into more than 20 languages.

In 1999 she received the Prime Minister's Award for Literature and in 2004 the Patras Bokhari Award - both awarded by the Pakistan Academy of Letters. Kamila Shamsie lives in London.

A London Address podcasts are in collaboration with the Guardian.