'It's true that you are aware of being a Pakistani in India in some way. I don't know how much of it is in my head as opposed to anything else. If I get into a taxi and someone asks 'Where are you from' I would hesitate before saying 'Pakistan',' says novelist Kamila Shamsie, whose latest book A God in Every Stone is an epic page-turner set in India's colonial past.
In an interview to rediff.com's Abhishek Mande, Pakistani author Kamila Shamsie also spoke extensively about what it means to be a writer in Pakistan, the state of her country and how the post-Salman Taseer society is throwing up some rather unusual icons, icons like Veena Malik.
The Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize is the only Indian prize that honours a first-time author. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh.
As we move through the sharp, precise details of Anita Desai's Clear Light Of Day, we pass through the boundaries between what is real and what is imagined. It is the greatest gift a novelist can give us, says Kamila Shamsie.
'If there were completely free elections tomorrow, the mullahs will not be in majority rule,' says novelist Kamila Shamsie.
'Our grandparents' generation knew one another.' 'In our generation, you could go a lifetime without meeting someone from the other country,' British Pakistani novelist Kamila Shamsie tells Rahul Jacob.
His debut novel The Story of a Brief Marriage, set in the backdrop of the civil war.
Judges Kamila Shamsie, Rohini Mohan and Margaret Mascarenhas will announce the winner in November.
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