An Intimate Lunch with Hanif Kureishi April 27, 2011

Join us for an intimate lunch with writer Hanif Kureishi, hailed by the Times of London as one of 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Kureishi’s newly released Collected Essays presents decades of his writings on topics intimate (the making of his Oscar-nominated film My Beautiful Laundrette), literary (the nature of the essay), and political (the fatwa against Salman Rushdie and the relationship between Islam and the West). Likened to the work of James Baldwin and George Orwell, the collection reveals Kureishi as the conscience of a post-imperial multi-racial England. It also tells the story of Kureishi’s childhood--how he grew up half-English, half-Pakistani in suburban England and escaped from 1970s skinhead fascism through the magic of literature. As he says, “As a teenager, I began to write. I wrote for my life.” Come hear Kureishi in conversation with Amitava Kumar, author of A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of His Arm a Tiny Bomb. This intimate meal will be held at Yuva, an acclaimed restaurant specializing in Northwest Indian Frontier cuisine.

Official Website: http://www.aaww.org/