Bina Shah is a writer of English fiction and a journalist living in Pakistan. She is an author of two collections of short stories. , Animal Medicine and Blessings and four novels: Where They Dream in Blue, The 786 Cybercafe , Slum Child , and A Season For Martyrs .She holds a degree in psychology from Wellesley and a master in education from Harvard Graduate School of education. She is a regular columnist for The Dawn and The Express Tribune, Pakistan’s major English language newspaper, and has recently started writing for The NewYork times. Her humorous writing, and clear-eyed view of social issues have earned her critical praise and a devoted following amongst Pakistanis all over the world.
What was the inspiration for writing “Slum Child”?
Well, inspiration was when I was in university I did an internship, where I worked with very physically handicapped and mentally handicapped. Therefore, from there I got the inspiration but it is not a true story. It is a fictional piece.
Is there any important lesson you have learned throughout life?
I think it is very important to have positive mental attitude. There is a book by Napoleon Hill “Power of positive thinking” that book really impressed me, the feel of the book is if you change your thinking very positive then you will succeed in life and I really tried to go after that philosophy.
What is your favorite story of your work life?
The best experience that I had was when I went to china. Last year, I was in Hong Kong for one-month writer’s program as a part of that program they took us to china.
Are you working on any new novel?
Yes, I have been working over it. The novel was written in Italian (A Season for Martyrs) and it was published in Italy before. It will be published in English in November. Insha’Allah.
If anyone want to become a writer then what would be your advice to him or her?
So much advice for them, to be a good writer you need to be a good reader, read as many books as you can, read anything you can get your hands on. You cannot write well if you are not going to read and then the next thing would be to practice a lot, To get your grammar and your spelling and all these things, really perfect them because it is important to be clear when you are writing. If you will be writing with full of mistakes then there is no use. I would say read a lot and work on perfecting your language skills. No matter whichever language, you must have a very good grasp of that language. This is the technical aspect of writing if you get that your writing will become much much better.
Do you have any key mentors or people who deeply influenced you?
I had some teachers in my school that really encouraged me in secondary school and they recognized that I could write even before I realized that I could write. As you write well, you should think about writing and becoming a writer. I had no thing in that direction. They really helped me they gave me the idea. I thought I wanted to become a doctor or a lawyer, I never thought I would go in the Art or Literature; I never thought that you can write and that is professional. I did not understand at that point, you could make a good career out of being a writer. I like to read very much, think about books that I had read and talk about them then from there a natural progression to write came without the encouragement I would not have taken that step.
Do you have any life-changing experience that put you on the path, which leads you to be doing what you are doing today?
Probably going to university in America, probably that was the biggest life-changing event because I loved Pakistan, I was 17 when I left for six years on my own, very independent. That really changed my life it put me on this path. It was also because the way they teach you about critical thinking, your creativity and being imaginative. So, I think that is what encouraged me to be a thinking person, think really hard about what you are doing.
Were there any challenges you faced in getting your first novel published?
No, it was not that hard, the challenge was in writing a novel after most of the short stories. I did not have the guidance before but now it is very different. I have many writer friends who can give me there feedback and I will go, and make those changes. I was kind of on my own back then. I was very raw and new but it takes time.
