Tahmima Anam

Tahmima Anam

Anam at the Free Word Centre, London in November 2015
Native name তাহমিমা আনাম
Born (1975-10-08) 8 October 1975
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Occupation Writer, novelist, columnist
Language English
Nationality British Bangladeshi
Education PhD Anthropology,
MA Creative Writing
Alma mater Mount Holyoke College
Harvard University
Royal Holloway, University of London
Years active 2007–present
Spouse Roland O. Lamb (m. 2010)
Relatives Mahfuz Anam (father)
Abul Mansur Ahmed
(paternal grandfather)

Tahmima Anam (Bengali: তাহমিমা আনাম; born 8 October 1975) is a British Bangladeshi writer, novelist and columnist. Her first novel, A Golden Age, was published by John Murray in 2007 and was the Best First Book winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. In 2013 she was included in the Granta list of 20 best young writers.[1] Her follow-up novel The Good Muslim was nominated for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize.[2]

Background

Anam comes from an illustrious literary family in Bangladesh. Her father Mahfuz Anam is the editor and publisher of The Daily Star, an English-language newspaper in Bangladesh.[3] Her grandfather Abul Mansur Ahmed was a satirist and politician whose works in Bengali remain popular to this day.[4]

Education

Anam was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and grew up in Paris, New York City, and Bangkok, as a consequence of her father's career with the Unicef.[5]

In 1997, Anam completed her undergraduate education at Mount Holyoke College. She earned a PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University in 2004, for her thesis "Fixing the Past: War, Violence, and Habitations of Memory in Post-Independence Bangladesh." In 2005, she completed an MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Anam is the recipient of a Writing Fellowship from the Arts Council of England.

Career

In March 2007, Anam's first novel was published by John Murray. She picked the Bangladesh Liberation War as her first subject to write the novel A Golden Age. Anam was inspired by her parents who were freedom fighters during the war.[6] Tahmima also researched the war which covered the central part of her post graduation. For the benefit of her research, she stayed in Bangladesh for two years and interviewed hundreds of war fighters. She also worked on the set of Tareque and Catherine Masud's critically acclaimed film Matir Moina (The Clay Bird) which reflects the happenings during that war.[7]

As of 2008, Anam, is author and contributing editor of New Statesman of UK.[8]

In 2011, her second novel The Good Muslim a sequel to A Golden Age was published. It was nominated for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize longlist.

In 2011 she contributed a short story "The Music of the Maple" to an anthology supporting The Woodland Trust. The anthology – Why Willows Weep – has so far helped The Woodland Trust plant approximately 50,000 trees, and is to be re-released in paperback format in 2016.

In 2017 she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.[9][10]

Personal life

Anam's first husband was a Bangladeshi marketing executive. In 2010, Anam married an American inventor, Roland O. Lamb, whom she met at Harvard University.[11][12] She has resided in Kilburn, London for the last decade.

Bibliography

Articles and short stories

Books

Year Title Publisher ISBN
2007 A Golden Age John Murray ISBN 978-0719560095
2011 The Good Muslim ISBN 978-1847679758
2016 The Bones of Grace Harper Collins ISBN 978-0061478949

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.granta.com/Archive/123
  2. ↑ "Women – Welcome to British Bangladeshi Power 100". British Bangladeshi Power 100. January 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  3. ↑ Bergquist, Karin (2007). "Mahfuz Anam". culturebase.net. Retrieved 31 January 2007. Outspoken editor from Bangladesh
  4. ↑ Razzaque, Rana. "Biography of Abul Mansur Ahmed". Banglapedia. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  5. ↑ "The outsider". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 March 2007.
  6. ↑ "Bookseller report on Tahmima Anam". Retrieved 1 January 2007.
  7. ↑ "The outsider". Prothom Alo. 13 January 2007.
  8. ↑ "Tahmima Anam". The Guardian. 14 August 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  9. ↑ Natasha Onwuemezi, "Rankin, McDermid and Levy named new RSL fellows", The Bookseller, 7 June 2017.
  10. ↑ "Current RSL Fellows". Royal Society of Literature. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  11. ↑ Hong, Terry (July 2011). "An Interview with Tahmima Anam". Bookslut. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  12. ↑ Roy, Amit (5 June 2011). "Eye on England: Good Author". Telegraph India. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
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