Mohammed Hanif

For those of a similar name, see Mohammad Hanif.

Mohammed Hanif (born November 1964) is a British-Pakistani writer and journalist.^[2] His work has been published by The New York Times,^[3][4] The Daily Telegraph,^[5] The New Yorker^[6] and The Washington Post. Hanif worked as a correspondent for the BBC News based in Karachi and was the writer of a feature film about the city, The Long Night.^[7][8][9] Hanif has written two novels, A Case of Exploding Mangoes.^[10] and Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, as well as a play, The Dictator's Wife, which was staged at the Hampstead Theatre.^[11]

Mohammed Hanif
Hanif Mohammed Koeln
Born	November 1964 Okara, Punjab, Pakistan
Occupation	Writer, journalist
Nationality	Pakistan  United Kingdom
Alma mater	University of East Anglia, Pakistan Air Force Academy
Period	2008–present
Notable works	A Case of Exploding Mangoes
Notable awards	Wellcome Book Prize, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Commonwealth Prize for Best Book
Spouse	Nimra Bucha[1]

Life

He was born in Okara, Punjab. He graduated from Pakistan Air Force Academy as a pilot officer, but subsequently left to pursue a career in journalism.^[12] He initially worked for Newsline and wrote for The Washington Post and India Today. He is a graduate of the University of East Anglia.^[13] In 1996, he moved to London to work for the BBC. Later, he became the head of the BBC's Urdu service in London.^[13] He moved back to Pakistan in 2008.^[14]

Works

His first novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008) was shortlisted for the 2008 Guardian First Book Award^[15] and longlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize.^[16] It won the 2009 Commonwealth Book Prize in the Best First Book category^[17] and the 2008 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize.^[18]

Hanif has also written for the stage and screen, including a feature film, The Long Night (2002),^[9] a BBC radio play, What Now, Now That We Are Dead?, and the stage play The Dictator's Wife (2008).^[19] His second novel, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, was published in 2011.^[20] It was shortlisted for the Wellcome Trust Book Prize (2012),^[21] and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature (2013).^[22]

He is currently collaborating with composer Mohammed Fairouz on an opera titled Bhutto.^[23]

In 2018, he wrote a novel called Red Birds.^{[citation needed]}

Hanif's style has often been compared with that of the author Salman Rushdie, although Hanif himself disagrees with this assessment. Once, to a question if he had grown up wanting to be a writer like Salman Rushdie, he said that while "[e]verybody of a certain age wanted to write like Rushdie and so did I", he would not want being "hunted around the world."^[24]

Award Return

In opposition to Pakistan's ongoing persecution of the Baloch people and police crackdown during a protest march in Islamabad on 20 December 2023, Mohammed Hanif has returned his "Sitara-e-Imtiaz" award.^[25]

Bibliography

Films

• The Long Night (Script) (2002)

Novels

• A Case of Exploding Mangoes (2008)
• Our Lady of Alice Bhatti (2011)
• The Baloch who is not missing and others who are (2013)
• Red Birds (2018)

Plays

• What Now, Now That We Are Dead? (radio play)
• The Dictator's Wife (2008)

Personal life

Hanif is married to the actress Nimra Bucha.^[1]