Mohsin Hamid was born and grew up in Lahore, Pakistan. He attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School, worked for several years as a management consultant in New York and as a freelance journalist in Lahore, and now lives mainly in London.His first novel, Moth Smoke, was published in 2000; his second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, was released in the U.S. in 2007. It was shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize.
Anna Metcalfe interviewed Hamid for the Financial Times.
A few exchanges from the Q & A:
Read the full interview.Who are your literary heroes?
The south Asian writer Saadat Hasan Manto, Nabokov and Borges.
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Who would you choose to play you in a film about your life?
Natalie Portman. She's not a man, she's not Pakistani and she's younger than me. But films are supposed to be different from books.
* * *
What was the first novel you read?
Charlotte's Web. It contains the most sophisticated yet gentle treatment of death I've ever read.
Read an excerpt from The Reluctant Fundamentalist, and visit Mohsin Hamid's website.
The Page 69 Test: The Reluctant Fundamentalist.
--Marshal Zeringue