Pakistani journalist and novelist Mohammed Hanif speak on politics in Pakistan. Hanif is best known for this 2008 book A Case of Exploding Mangoes, a satirical novel based on the plane crash that killed Pakistan’s president, General Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, which touched off numerous conspiracy theories. The book won the Commonwealth Book Prize and Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize, and was long-listed for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His second novel, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, was published in 2011.

Hanif graduated from the Pakistan Air Force Academy but left the military to pursue a career in journalism, working for Newsline magazine. In 1996, he moved to London to work for the BBC, becoming head of the BBC’s Urdu service. He moved back to Pakistan in 2008 and works as a special correspondent for BBC Urdu based in Karachi. Working in Urdu and English, Hanif is equally at ease writing satire and pursuing serious political reporting, such as his coverage of political murders and disappearances in Baluchistan.

More information online.

The talk is sponsored by the Department of English, Wilson Chair of Pakistan Studies, Humanities Institute, and South Asia Institute at the University of Texas.

Location: Avaya Auditorium (POB 2.402), 201 E. 24th St., University of Texas campus, Austin