Sameer Rahim

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Sameer Rahim is a British literary journalist and novelist. He became Managing Editor (Arts and Books) at Prospect magazine, [1] having previously worked at the London Review of Books and at The Daily Telegraph , and his reviews of both fiction and non-fiction have featured regularly in other publications. Also an essayist, [2] he was a winner of the William Hazlitt Essay Prize 2013 for "The Shadow of the Scroll: Reconstructing Islam's Origins". [3] Rahim's critical writing includes pieces on V. S. Naipaul, Kazuo Ishiguro, Clive James and Geoffrey Hill. [4]

Contents

Career

After studying English at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he edited the student newspaper, [5] Rahim worked as a teacher before focusing on a career in literary journalism. [6] He began his career with the London Review of Books in 2005, going on to work on the Books Desk at the Daily Telegraph and then Prospect Magazine , where he was Arts and Books Editor. [7] In 2022, it was announced that in November Rahim would be joining The Bridge Street Press, an imprint of Little, Brown, as publisher. [8]

He is the author of the 2019 novel Asghar and Zahra, published by John Murray. [9] The New Statesman called the book "sparkling ... a novel of charm and compassion", [10] and it was described in The Guardian as "a tender, pin-sharp portrait of a marriage and a community. ... a wonderful achievement; an invigorating reminder of the power fiction has to challenge lazy stereotypes, and stretch the reader’s heart", [11] while The Telegraph reviewer concluded: "Elegant, provocative, and clear-eyed, this beautifully pitched novel asks new questions about what imagination means, and what it costs." [12] Other positive reviews appeared in the TLS , [13] the Literary Review , [14] with Rahim being compared to Ian McEwan and Asghar and Zahra being singled out by Colm Tóibín as one of the books of the year. [4]

Rahim has served as a judge for literary awards including the Forward Prize for Poetry, [15] the Orwell Prize for Political Writing [16] and the Costa Poetry Award, [17] most recently being selected for the 2020 Booker Prize jury alongside Margaret Busby, Lee Child, Lemn Sissay and Emily Wilson. [18] [19] [20]

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References

  1. ↑ Prospect Magazine website.
  2. ↑ Rahim, Sameer (13 November 2019). "Learning to speak Islam". Boundless.
  3. ↑ "William Hazlitt Essay Prize 2013: The Wiinners". Notting Hill Editions.
  4. 1 2 "Sameer Rahim | 2020 Booker Prize Judge". The Booker Prizes. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  5. ↑ "An Evening with Sameer Rahim of Prospect Magazine". Where Ideas Grow. York St John University. 10 March 2017.
  6. ↑ "Museum of Awards MWA – 2011". ymwa.org.uk.
  7. ↑ "Meet the Trustees: Sameer Rahim". Maslaha.
  8. ↑ Brown, Luren (15 September 2022). "Books journalist Rahim appointed publisher at The Bridge Street Press". The Bookseller . Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  9. ↑ Chandler, Mark (25 March 2019). "John Murray snaps up debuts from Fagan and Rahim". The Bookseller.
  10. ↑ Taylor, Catherine (27 June 2019). "Sameer Rahim's Asghar and Zahra: a sparkling comedy of Muslim manners". New Statesman.
  11. ↑ O'Keeffe, Alice (28 June 2020). "Asghar and Zahra by Sameer Rahim review – a tender, clear-eyed portrait". The Guardian.
  12. ↑ Ratcliffe, Sophie (3 July 2019). "Asghar and Zahra by Sameer Rahim, review: the unmaking of an Islamic marriage". The Telegraph.
  13. ↑ Moaveni, Azadeh (5 July 2019). "Loyalty vs passion: The demands of Western love and Eastern tradition". TLS.
  14. ↑ Delgado, Michael (July 2019). "Starting Points". Literary Review.
  15. ↑ Rahim, Sameer (7 October 2011). "Judging the Forward Prize". The Telegraph.
  16. ↑ "2012 Book Prize Short List". Orwell Foundation.
  17. ↑ "Shortlist, 2018 Costa Poetry Award". Poetry Society. 23 November 2018.
  18. ↑ Chandler, Mark (7 January 2020). "Child, Busby and Sissay join 2020 Booker Prize judging panel". The Bookseller. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  19. ↑ Rahim, Sameer (15 September 2020). "Judging the Booker prize: 'These books are about living under intense pressure'". The Guardian.
  20. ↑ Rahim, Sameer (29 November 2020). "Eyes on the prize: my year as a Booker judge". Prospect.
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