Omair Ahmad

Omair Ahmad, ( born 1974 in Aligarh ) is an Indian political consultant, journalist and writer.

Life

He grew up in Gorakhpur in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Literature played a major role in Omair Ahmad's family. The son of an engineer grew up in India and Saudi Arabia, where he attended the School of the American Embassy. After his return to India, he took a BA degree with a scientific focus. In addition, he received a literary prize awarded each year. Subsequently, he studied International Politics with a focus on Kashmir at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and Syracuse University in New York. He lives in New Delhi.

Literary creation

Omair Ahmad's first novel, Encounters, was published in 2007. The subject of the novel is the radicalization of the middle class youth.

His second work, The Storyteller 's Tale, was published in 2009 and was in India and then also an international success. It was inspired by the oral narrative tradition of India. The novella is about a homeless storyteller who takes on the run in the wake of the destruction of Delhi in the 18th century refuge with a young princess and exchanges with their stories. 2011 appeared the German translation by Anne Breubeck under the title The Storyteller.

2010, the novel Jimmy the Terrorist appeared. This retrospect describes the life history and radicalization of a young Muslim in the fictional northern Indian town Moazzamabad in the 1960s. Jamaal which develops in the course of the novel to Jimmy learns provocations and humiliations by Hindus in its environment. One day, he loses control and commits an act of violence. The city is then overwhelmed by the media attention

Publications

  • 2007 Encounters ( Tara Press, New Delhi )
  • 2009 The Storyteller's Tale ( Viking)
  • 2010 Jimmy the Terrorist ( Hamish Hamilton / Penguin Books India, New Delhi )

In German translation

  • 2011 The Storyteller ( Draupadi Verlag, Heidelberg)
  • 2012 Jimmy the Terrorist ( Draupadi Verlag, Heidelberg)

Awards

  • 2009 Shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize for the manuscript of Jimmy the Terrorist
  • 2010 Winners of the Vodafone Crossword Book Award in the category of English fiction for the novel Jimmy the Terrorist
  • 2011 Invitation to the International Literature Festival Berlin
  • 2012 Long Listed for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for Jimmy the Terrorist
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