Hanif Kureishi

The author, screenwriter, playwright, and director Hanif Kureishi was born in 1954 and grew up in Kent, with a Pakistani father of Indian descent. He studied philosophy at King's College London. In 1981, he won the George Devine Award for his play "Outskirts." In 1984, he wrote the screenplay for the film "My Beautiful Laundrette," directed by Stephen Frears. This was followed by the screenplay "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid," also with Frears as the director. Kureishi himself directed his screenplay "London Kills Me." His novel "The Buddha of Suburbia" won the Whitbread Award for Best First Novel in 1990. His second novel, "The Black Album," was published in 1995. In the same year, he collaborated with Jon Savage on "The Faber Book of Pop." In 1997, his first collection of short stories, "Love in a Blue Time," was released, from which the story "My Son the Fanatic" was adapted into a film the following year. This was followed by his third novel, "Intimacy," the short story collection "Midnight All Day," the novel "Gabriel's Gift," the short story collection "The Body and Seven Stories," and the novel "Something to Tell You." Additionally, in English, the essay collection "Dreaming and Scheming: Reflections on Writing and Politics" (2002) and the autobiographical narrative about his father "My Ear at his Heart" (2004) have been published. In 2008, he was awarded the honorary title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).