Author Bina Shah
Bina Shah - Quick Facts
- Favorite Activity (not related to writing): Music, I play the piano and the flute.
- Favorite place to go when thinking through a plot issue or book idea: The shower. The flowing water somehow helps my thinking to flow too. It’s very meditative.
- Favorite Author: T. S. Eliot
- Favorite Books: Lolita, Atonement, The Diary of Anne Frank
- Favorite Movie: The English Patient
- Favorite Pastime: Drinking Turkish coffee.
- Favorite Speech and why: I Have a Dream, Dr. Martin Luther King. I taught it to my students at a Pakistani university and they gave it an ovation.
- What do you most like about being an author: Being able to move people with words, so that they are compelled to act, think, or feel differently than before they read my work.
Interesting Highlights
Do you teach on a specific topic?
No.
What specialized knowledge do you have?
I’m very well-versed in women’s rights in Islam. Much of my non-literary work is feminist-activist focused.
Do you, as an author, provide in-depth research on a topic?
If it’s necessary for the story, I do it. It’s my chance to be a scholar without having a Ph.D.
What else do you want to share?
I serve on the board as President of the Alliance Française de Karachi. I taught writing for four years at SZABIST, a Pakistani university. I am a regular participant at the Karachi Literature Festival, as a speaker and moderator, and also as a consultant.
Over the years, I have written for Dawn, Pakistan’s biggest English language newspaper (op-ed section and Books section), The New York Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Huffington Post, Al Jazeera, and NPR’s Goats and Soda section.
Other Writings & Awards
- A Season For Martyrs (2014)
- Slum Child (2010)
- The 786 Cyber Cafe (2004)
- Where They Dream in Blue (2001)
- Short story collections Blessings (2008) and Animal Medicine (2000)
- Books made into Movies: None yet!
- Awards: Dr. Neila C. Sesachari prize from Weber University’s literary journal, Weber - The Contemporary West (2017)
Agahi Awards for journalism in Pakistan (2013 and 2014)
Western Pennsylvania Press Club Golden Quill award for Best Blog (2014)
Current Project
Promotion for my new novel Before She Sleeps.
Website & Social Media
Before She Sleeps
