Daniyal Mueenuddin ( ur, ) (born 1963) is a
Pakistani-
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
author who writes in English. His short story collection ''
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders'', has been translated into sixteen languages,
and won
The Story Prize The Story Prize is an annual book award established in 2004 that honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction with a $20,000 cash award. Each of two runners-up receives $5,000. Eligible books must be written in English and first p ...
, the
Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...
and other honors and critical acclaim.
Born in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, USA, he spent his childhood in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. At the age of thirteen he moved back to the US, where he received higher education and worked as a journalist, a director, a lawyer, a businessman, before finally devoting his efforts to writing.
Life and works
Early life
Mueenuddin was born in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, USA, to a
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
i father Ghulam Mueenuddin and a second-generation Norwegian-
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
mother, Barbara.
His father was a member of the Indian Civil Service
The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947.
Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...
(ICS), and after the independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
of Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
in 1947 he became Secretary of Pakistan's Establishment Division
The Establishment Division is the human resource arm of the Government of Pakistan. It deals with all matters related to the country's civil service and is regarded as one of the most sensitive and important divisions of the federal government. ...
, which administered the civil service (later he was the country's Chief Election Commissioner). In the late 1950s, Mueenuddin's father was posted for several years to Washington as chief negotiator of the Indus Waters Treaty
The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, arranged and negotiated by the World Bank, to use the water available in the Indus River and its tributaries. It was signed in Karachi on 19 September 1960 b ...
(1960) between India and Pakistan where he met his future American wife Barbara,[ a reporter at '']The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''.[ After a courtship and marriage they moved to ]Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
in 1960, living first in Rawalpindi and later in Lahore
Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...
. Keeping with an agreement she had made with her father, a surgeon in Los Angeles who had heard of unsanitary conditions in Pakistani hospitals, his expectant mother flew back to the U.S. and Mueenuddin was born in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
in April. Two months later mother and child returned to Rawalpindi, Pakistan, then the country's temporary capital. Several years later, the family moved to Lahore, where Mueenuddin attended the Lahore American School.[ Mueenuddin remembers his youth there as a "magical" time which included hunting and riding.][ Mueenuddin and his brother Tamur often visited the US in the summers.][
At age 13 his parents separated and the two boys moved with their mother back to the US, where Mueenuddin spent five years at prep-school, Groton School in MA, graduating in 1981.][ Later he graduated '']magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
'' from Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
.[ The summer of his graduation he returned to ]Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
where his father, in his 80s was in failing health, and losing control of the prosperous family mango farm to its managers.[ His father asked him to stay in Pakistan and rescue the farm.][ Mueenuddin recalled it as a lonely and arduous life, but one well suited to Daniyal, who spent early mornings writing poetry, and evenings reading through the library that his mother had left behind.][ (Later in life Mueenuddin would thank his mother for teaching him "that becoming a writer was a legitimate thing to do."] His mother was a Trustee of PEN American Center
PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of liter ...
and died in October 2009.) In 1990 his father died, leaving Mueenuddin more exposed but also more independent. He ran the farm as a business, and not in the traditional feudal way like many of his neighbors, by "hiring good managers, paying them well, and demanding a lot of them."[ Mueenuddin would also later inherit his mother's family farm in Wisconsin.][
]
Family
Mueenuddin is married to Cecilie Brenden Mueenuddin, a Norwegian anthropologist whom he met while on a Fulbright Scholarship in Oslo, Norway
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of i ...
.[ He was previously married to the New York artist and lawyer Rachel Jeanne Harris in 1999.][ Mueenuddin is the godson of ]Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter (May 15, 1890 – September 18, 1980) was an American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel '' Ship of Fools'' was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her sh ...
, who was a friend of his mother. Porter died in 1980 and his mother became one of the trustees of the Porter literary estate.
Career
In 1993, with the farm running fairly smoothly, he decided to spend time in the West again[ and moved back to the US where he attended ]Yale Law School
Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & Worl ...
for three years, serving as Editor-in-Chief of the ''Yale Journal of International Law
''The Yale Journal of International Law'' is a student-edited international law review at the Yale Law School (New Haven, Connecticut). The journal publishes articles, essays, notes, and commentary that cover a wide range of topics in internation ...
'' and as Director of the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic. After graduation he worked briefly at Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
and then as a corporate lawyer at the New York firm Debevoise & Plimpton
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP (often shortened to Debevoise) is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Harvard Law School alumnus Eli Whitney Debevoise and Oxford-trained William Stevenson, the firm was origi ...
between 1998 and 2001.[ However he found the life unsatisfying and decided to begin a new career in writing, explaining that:
He enrolled in the MFA program (writing) at the ]University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
at Tucson, where he earned a degree in 2004.[ His first published story was "Our Lady of Paris" published in '' Zoetrope: All-Story'' in Fall 2006.] This gained the attention of a literary agent,[ Bill Clegg,] who then helped him to publish a story in ''Granta'' and three stories in ''The New Yorker''. Mueenuddin's first collection of stories ''In Other Rooms, Other Wonders'' was published in February 2009 (four new stories, plus the four previously published). Mueenuddin's writing is influenced by Anton Chekov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...
, "I like the Russians, like everyone else. I am constantly reading Chekov. I am never not reading Chekov."
Awards
Mueenuddin was the winner of the 2010 Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...
. ''In Other Rooms, Other Wonders'' was the winner of The Story Prize The Story Prize is an annual book award established in 2004 that honors the author of an outstanding collection of short fiction with a $20,000 cash award. Each of two runners-up receives $5,000. Eligible books must be written in English and first p ...
for 2009, and the 2010 Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...
(Best First Book, Europe and South Asia). The collection was also one of four finalists for the 2009 National Book Awards
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
, one of three finalists for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, and was a finalist for the 2010 Los Angeles Times First Fiction Award, and the 2010 Ondaatje Prize
The Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize is an annual literary award given by the Royal Society of Literature. The £10,000 award is for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that evokes the "spirit of a place", and is written by someon ...
. In addition, it was selected among ''TIME
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine's top ten books of the year, '' Publishers Weekly's'' top ten books of 2009, '' The Economist's'' top ten fiction books of 2009, '' The Guardian's'' best books of the year, the '' New Statesman's'' best books of the year, and The New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year.
One of his short stories, "Nawabdin Electrician", was selected by Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...
for the ''Best American Short Stories The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of '' The Best American Series'' published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in co ...
'' of 2008.[ Another story, "A Spoiled Man", was selected for the 2010 edition of '' The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories''.PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2010]
TOC. Mueenuddin's first published story, "Our Lady of Paris," which appeared in ''Zoetrope'', was a finalist for the 2007 National Magazine Awards in fiction.
Bibliography
*
See also
* List of Asian-American writers
References
External links
Official Website
Stories by Daniyal Mueenuddin
published in ''The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
''
"Our Lady of Paris"
'' Zoetrope: All-Story'', Fall 2006, Vol. 10, No. 3
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mueenuddin, Daniyal
1963 births
Living people
Groton School alumni
Dartmouth College alumni
Yale Law School alumni
University of Arizona alumni
American people of Pakistani descent
American emigrants to Pakistan
English-language writers from Pakistan
The New Yorker people
21st-century Pakistani short story writers
Lahore American School alumni
American people of Norwegian descent
Pakistani people of Norwegian descent
21st-century American short story writers
O. Henry Award winners