Hanif Kureishi: Writing the Self: A Biography - Hardcover

by Ruvani Ranasinha (Author)

Original, bold and always funny, Hanif Kureishi is one of Britain's most popular, provocative and versatile writers.

Born in Bromley in 1954 to an Indian father and white British mother, Kureishi's life is intimately bound up with the history of immigration and social change in Britain. This is the story of how a mixed-raced child of empire who attended the local comprehensive school found success with a remarkable series of novels and screenplays, including My Beautiful Laundrette and The Buddha of Suburbia, Intimacy, Venus and Le Week-End. The book also illuminates a larger story, not only of the artist as a young man, but of the recasting of Britain in the aftermath of decolonisation.

Drawing on journals, letters and manuscripts from Kureishi's unexplored archive, recently acquired by the British Library, and informed by interviews with his family, friends and collaborators, as well with the writer himself, Ruvani Ranasinha sheds new light on how his life animates his work. This first biography offers a vivid portrait of a major talent who has inspired a new generation of writers.

Back Jacket

Original, bold and always funny, Hanif Kureishi is one of Britain's most popular, provocative and versatile writers.

Born in Bromley in 1954 to an Indian father and white British mother, Kureishi's life is intimately bound up with the history of immigration and social change in Britain. This is the story of how a mixed-race child of empire who attended the local comprehensive school found success with a remarkable series of novels and screenplays, including My Beautiful Laundrette and The Buddha of Suburbia, Intimacy, Venus and Le Week-End. This biography illuminates a larger story, not only of the artist as a young man, but of the recasting of Britain in the aftermath of decolonisation.

Drawing on journals, letters and manuscripts from Kureishi's unexplored archive, recently acquired by the British Library, and informed by interviews with his family, friends and collaborators, as well with the writer himself, Ruvani Ranasinha sheds new light on how his life animates his work. This first biography offers a vivid portrait of a major talent who

Author Biography

Ruvani Ranasinha is Professor of Global Literature at King's College London. She is the author of Hanif Kureishi: Writers and Their Works (2002) and has written extensively on South-Asian fiction and writers. Born in Sri Lanka, she migrated to Britain with her parents at the age of one. She grew up in Epsom in Surrey, read English Literature at the University of Bristol and received her PhD from the University of Oxford. She lives in west London with her husband, daughter and son.