Shahbano Bilgrami is a writer, editor, poet, and book/film reviewer.

Biography

Though born in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Shahbano spent her early life in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Due to her interest in literature, she was awarded a variety of prizes in essay and creative-writing contests throughout high school. In 1991, she and her family moved back to her country of origin, where she completed her A Levels. Shahbano then went on to the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

to complete a BA

Honours Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...

in English and an MA in Twentieth Century Literature from King's College London. She has lived in Morgantown, West Virginia with her husband and two daughters since 2002. During her eight years at the

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

branch of the

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, she was an editor and writer for the Education Division. While working there, she wrote and contributed to many textbooks aimed at children. In 1997, her poetry was published in ''An Anthology'', by the Oxford University Press. It is a collection of poetry written by poets of Pakistani origin. ''Without Dreams'', Shahbano's first full-length novel, has been placed on the longlist for the

Man Asian Literary Prize The Man Asian Literary Prize was an annual literary award between 2007 and 2012, given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. It is awarded to writer ...

2007.

Awards and honours

*2007, longlisted, Man Asian Literary Prize

References

Sources

Harper Collins Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bilgrami, Shahbano 1973 births Living people Alumni of King's College London Pakistani women writers People from Rawalpindi District