“I was always fascinated with words, their sounds and how they could be put together to tell a tale.”- Mariam Karim-Ahlawat (Indian Author)

Team Kitaab is in conversation with Indian author Mariam Karim-Ahlawat as a part of the South Asian Women Writers Feature.

For the whole of March, we will be featuring South Asian Women Writers on Kitaab for the whole of March. You can read the editor’s note to know more about this.

Today, we are featuring Indian author Mariam Karim-Ahlawat.

She is a pedagogue of French Language and Literature, freelance editor, and a writer of fiction for children and adults. She was born in Lucknow and studied at Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Sorbonne in Paris.

Her first novel, My Little Boat, (Penguin India, 2003) was nominated for the IMPAC International Award 2005 and the Hutch Crossword Award. Her second novel, The Street of Mists, was longlisted for the Man Asian Prize 2009. Her play The Betrayal of Selvamary was shortlisted for the Hindu Metro Plus Playwright Award 2010. Her play, Fractals Search for the Real, was longlisted for the Hindu Metro Plus Playwright Award 2011. Her children’s musical about street children.