Our Art of Fiction Interview with Hanif Kureishi

"It's a devil's bargain, being a writer."

View this email in your browser Film lovers will have first encountered the British Pakistani writer Hanif Kureishi as the author of the screenplay of the indie hit My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), a gay love story (starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Gordon Warnecke) and a satire of Thatcherite entrepreneurism. Five years later, Kureishi's debut novel, The Buddha of Suburbia, was published, and Kureishi became—in the words of Hari Kunzru, who interviews him for The Art of Fiction No. 265 in our new Winter issue—"a central figure in a moment of optimism and national transformation, in which the so-called second generation asserted itself as a cultural force." Since then, Kureishi has continued to push boundaries in his work, which has dealt with infidelity, terrorism, and—after an accident on Boxing Day, 2022, left him almost paralyzed—the experience of suddenly finding himself dependent on others, especially his sons, who now act as his amanuenses. Subscribe now to continue reading our interview with Hanif Kureishi alongside our interviews with Fredric Jameson and Gerald Murnane, which also appear in our new Winter issue. Copyright © 2025 The Paris Review. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: The Paris Review 544 West 27th Street 3rd Floor New York, New York 10001 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe, if you must.