Mohsin Hamid Biography
Mohsin Hamid was born in 1971 in Lahore, where he mostly grew up. He spent part of his childhood in California, studied at Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and has since lived between Lahore, London, and New York. He worked as a management consultant for several years before shifting to writing full-time.
Moth Smoke (2000), his first novel, dealt with sex, drugs, and class conflict in 1990s urban Pakistan. It asks the reader to judge the trial of an ex-banker and heroin addict who has fallen for his best friend's wife. Moth Smoke became a cult hit in Pakistan, where it was made into a telefilm. It was also the winner of a Betty Trask Award and a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award.
His second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), explored the fear and suspicion that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In it "you," possibly an American, encounter a bearded Pakistani who has left behind a high-flying career and love affair in New York. The novel became an international bestseller, won numerous awards, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Mohsin's short stories have appeared in Granta and the Paris Review. He has also contributed essays on politics, the arts, and travel to publications such as the Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, Dawn, and the New York Review of Books.
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