Claire Chambers

COLUMN: WATER AND THIRST

COLUMN: WATER AND THIRST

Karachi-born Farah Ali is the author of the short story collection People Want to Live (McSweeney’s, 2021). That book is being... Published 29 Oct, 2023 07:03am
COLUMN: COLONIALISM, PLANTS AND HUMANS

COLUMN: COLONIALISM, PLANTS AND HUMANS

Amitav Ghosh’s latest work, a nonfiction book titled Smoke and Ashes, was published in India this July. Being in New Delhi at the Published 27 Aug, 2023 08:53am
COLUMN: Linguistic hierarchies

COLUMN: Linguistic hierarchies

Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi’s debut novel, The Centre, takes readers into a cutthroat world of language, translation ... Published 25 Jun, 2023 05:15am
COLUMN: CTRL-ALT-DEL UIGHUR CULTURE

COLUMN: CTRL-ALT-DEL UIGHUR CULTURE

The Uighurs — Turkic Muslims of China’s Xinjiang province, also known as East Turkestan — suffer from a covert but aggressive.. Published 22 Apr, 2023 07:14am
COLUMN: ECO-FEMINISM AND POWER

COLUMN: ECO-FEMINISM AND POWER

In South Asia, where women are often subjected to a lot of pressure, climate change is also an urgent problem.... Published 19 Feb, 2023 08:28am
COLUMN: FUTURE IMPERFECT

COLUMN: FUTURE IMPERFECT

The causal link between environmental damage and pandemics during the Anthropocene is a recurring topic in books... Updated 19 Feb, 2023 08:26am
COLUMN: THE JOY OF WANDERING

COLUMN: THE JOY OF WANDERING

Kamila Shamsie’s new novel Best of Friends begins as a love letter to Karachi, that city by the sea which the writer spent so much Published 16 Oct, 2022 08:17am
COLUMN: AS THE WORLD TURNS DARK

COLUMN: AS THE WORLD TURNS DARK

One of the finest facets of Mohsin Hamid’s body of fiction is its exuberant play with form. This experimentation ... Published 14 Aug, 2022 05:12am
COLUMN: TRUE CRIME IN COVID TIME

COLUMN: TRUE CRIME IN COVID TIME

I’m writing a book about literature, Covid, race and colonialism. During my research, I was deeply moved by Roopa... Updated 13 Jun, 2022 12:14pm
COLUMN: BALOCHISTAN BITES

COLUMN: BALOCHISTAN BITES

During a holiday from the school I was teaching at in mid-1990s Peshawar, I was fortunate to spend a few days in... Published 24 Apr, 2022 07:08am
COLUMN: SEVENTY YEARS OF SKIN

COLUMN: SEVENTY YEARS OF SKIN

Frantz Fanon (1925-1961) was a colonial subject from the small Caribbean island of Martinique, then a... Published 06 Mar, 2022 07:01am
COLUMN: VIRAL IMPERIALISM

COLUMN: VIRAL IMPERIALISM

In a thoughtful article in The Guardian about burnout amid Covid-19, Christine Berry wrote: “The pandemic isn’t... Published 16 Jan, 2022 06:59am
COLUMN: BLUE AT WORLD'S END

COLUMN: BLUE AT WORLD'S END

Regular readers will know I’ve been thinking about pandemic literature since Covid-19 went global in early 2020. A... Published 28 Nov, 2021 07:08am
COLUMN: INFECTION FICTIONS

COLUMN: INFECTION FICTIONS

Sally Rooney is everywhere just now because her eagerly-awaited third novel came out on September 7. In Beautiful... Published 10 Oct, 2021 06:36am
COLUMN: GRANDPA'S GARDEN OF BLISS

COLUMN: GRANDPA'S GARDEN OF BLISS

I write this from self-isolation. Our elder son has Covid, luckily a mild case. We’re not going near him and wear... Updated 22 Aug, 2021 03:05pm
COLUMN: FLYING CLOSE TO THE SUN

COLUMN: FLYING CLOSE TO THE SUN

Unlike his Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration and Identity — which I reviewed with pleasure and admiration ... Published 04 Jul, 2021 06:28am
COLUMN: MONI'S RUBY R.

COLUMN: MONI'S RUBY R.

I’m excited to live in a world where a new Moni Mohsin book is out, alliteratively titled The Impeccable Integrity... Published 16 May, 2021 05:45am
COLUMN: LOCKDOWNS AND CURFEWS

COLUMN: LOCKDOWNS AND CURFEWS

The world has been struggling under travel bans, lockdowns and limits on freedom for the last year because of the... Published 28 Mar, 2021 06:28am