Pakistani fiction in English

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English language fiction from Pakistan began to receive international recognition in the latter part of the 20th century, pioneered by figures such as Bapsi Sidhwa, the Parsi author of The Crow Eaters, Cracking India (1988) and other novels. In the diaspora, Sara Suleri published the literary memoir, Meatless Days (1989), Hanif Kureshi commenced a prolific career with the novel The Buddha of Suburbia (1990), which won the Whitbread Award, and Aamer Hussein wrote a series of acclaimed short story collections.

In the early years of the 21st century, a number of Pakistani novelists writing in English won or were shortlisted for international awards. Mohsin Hamid published his first novel Moth Smoke (2000), which won a Betty Trask Award and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award; he has since published his second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007). Kamila Shamsie was shorlisted for the John Llewelyn Rhys award for her third novel, Kartography (2002); she has since published her fourth novel, Broken Verses. Uzma Aslam Khan was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Eurasia region) for her second novel, Trespassing (2003). British-Pakistani writer Nadeem Aslam won the Kuriyama Prize for his second book, Maps for Lost Lovers (2004).