Professor Hanif Kureishi

Hanif Kureishi is a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. His father's family was displaced during the partition of India and Pakistan. Due to his mother being English, the family ended up in London.

Hanif studied philosophy and achieved early success as a playwright. He collaborated with several London theatre companies. Commissioned by Channel 4, he wrote the script for My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The Buddha of Suburbia (1990), his debut novel, was adapted into a television series in 1993, featuring a soundtrack by David Bowie. His book Intimacy (1998) sparked controversy due to its autobiographical nature, which Hanif denied. The film adaptation, Intimacy (2001), based on his stories and the book, was released in 2001. For the screenplay of the film Venus (2006), Hanif received another Oscar nomination. Peter O'Toole (Lawrence of Arabia) won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role as Maurice. The film was directed by his close friend Roger Michell (1956-2021).

In 2008, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and in 2014, he sold his archive to the British Library. In December 2022, he suffered a serious fall in Rome, resulting in paralysis. After an extended stay in rehabilitation centres, he now resides at home in an adapted residence in London. His memoir Shattered will be published in the UK and internationally in October 2024, parallel with an RSC staging of The Buddha of Suburbia at the Barbican in London.