Coming to Byron Bay Writers Festival!   August 2009

 

Unimagined ranked no 11 at Sydney Writers' Festival

The pick of the literary crop 2007 – The Sydney Morning Herald

The best books of 2007 – The Independent

Books of the year  – The Guardian

Paperback of the week – The Guardian

 

Best non-fiction read of 2007 – dovegreyreader

Shortlisted for the YoungMinds Book Award 2007

 

 

Foreword to Australian Edition (Murdoch Books, Sept 2008)  by Bruce Elder  

 
Over the past five years, in the role of reviewer of non-fiction for the Sydney Morning Herald, I have read more than one thousand books.  Inevitably people query anyone's ability to read, absorb and evaluate so many books.  Yet there are a couple of simple truths about such a frightening workload.  
 
How do I read that many books?  In two words: speed reading.  But, more importantly, how does anyone confronted with such a daunting task know that their judgement is sound and their enthusiasms are correct. 

A second simple truth: non-fiction falls into easily identifiable categories.  Category A: books which would make a good magazine article and which some bright-eyed publisher has persuaded an author to flesh out to 80-100,000 words.  Category B: books where the idea – be it a biography of a celebrity or an account of a widely publicised crime – is what the publisher wants, and, anyway, there's always a sub-editor waiting to turn tortured and tortuous prose into something approaching plain English.  And Category C: books where the writing is so beautiful, lucid, imaginative and worthwhile that they rise above the pile trailing clouds of glory and making the reviewer's heart sing.  This last category, I can assure you, is very small.  

After a while the overworked reviewer gets a "nose" for Category C.  The gems sit in the mountains of dross (don't get me started on the argument about too many books being published) in the Literary Editor's office shyly saying "Open me and you will be amazed".  

And so it was that, amongst another pile of books for review, I saw a photograph of a dapper child in a suit and said to myself: "I wonder what that is about."  

Contrary to accepted wisdom, when you've read a thousand books you can identify a "goodie" after a couple of paragraphs.  And the wonder of a "goodie" book is that it turns a speed reader with a deadline into a "reading for enjoyment" lover of literature and, instantly, you are savouring every word, laughing at the happy moments, letting the life of another person wash over you and saturate your being, marvelling at the love of language and being swept along by the sheer power and beauty of a writer determined to tell his or her story. 

I still remember my experience with "Unimagined".  It filled an entire day. I could not put the book down.  I laughed at Imran's memories of his childhood. I marvelled at his ability to look at his stumbles with such fearless honesty and I shared his gentle, wry irritation at the unfairness of the world.  

The greatness of this book is easy to understand.  Read it and you will come to know Imran Ahmad as though you have spent a lifetime growing up with him.  You will warm to his wonderfully self-deprecating sense of humour and, almost incidentally, you will learn a lot about yourself and a vast amount about the complex multicultural confusion of growing up as an immigrant Pakistani Muslim in England.  This is a wise and witty book about the new cultural reality of globalisation. 

Bruce Elder, 2008
 

       

 

My main Sydney Writers Festival incident: The Governor and the Canapé

 

Imran Ahmad recommended at Sydney Writers' Festival by:

ABC News

Susan Wyndham in The Sydney Morning Herald

The Principal of Sydney Boys High School

New South Wales Government

Newmatilda.com

India Link - Australia

John Huxley in The Sydney Morning Herald

Unimagined ranked no 11 at Sydney Writers' Festival

'The tender humour and intelligence of this memoir belies its political importance; through it, Muslims are humanized.  Imran Ahmad, Pakistan-born and London-raised, writes beautifully of his life … Just beautiful.'

Antonella Gambotto-Burke

 

'I loved the fresh and uninhibited honesty of Imran Ahmad's Unimagined.'

Bruce Elder

 

'In Unimagined, Imran Ahmad writes with warmth, humour and insight about the challenges and joys of growing up nerdy, dreamy and Muslim in Britain.'

Emily Maguire

 

'I consumed Unimagined as soon as I started it.  I couldn't wait until the plane ride.  It was an absolute joy to read.  I loved every moment of it ...'

Randa Abdel-Fattah

 

'... a fascinating insight ...'

The Sydney Morning Herald

 

'... an amusing and highly accessible book which deals with a range of theological and cross-cultural issues ...'

The Canberra Times

 

'... deserves all the praise it's had – it's very clearly and vividly written, it's funny and perceptive about schools and neighbors and friends and girls and especially about the narrator himself, with his continuing puzzlement about religion ...

It's very clever, actually, to have presented a character so original and unusual, and yet so warmly human and recognisable. The "I" of the book is a real literary creation – and I don't mean, of course that you made any of it up: just that a successful memoir depends just as much on art as a successful novel does ...'

Philip Pullman

 

'My favourite book of 2007 is this memoir of a Muslim boy, born in Pakistan, who moves to London at the age of one in the 1960s. With his Islamic identity and desire to embrace the West, the book paints a beautiful picture of growing up in a strange culture ... the end result is unforgettable.'

Ann Widdecombe   Conservative Member of Parliament, author, columnist

 

' ... the mark of classic literature is that it goes straight to the heart – no matter the historical or class or ethno-cultural background of both writer and reader ... a wonderful book and the chance to reflect again on our shared humanity.'

Jim Kable

 

'Unimagined is a funny, beguiling and insightful account of a young British Muslim boy growing up in 60s and 70s British society – his encounters early on in life with racism, and later with the material world of fashion, cars and girls.

Above all, though, it’s his struggle to find his religious identity that makes this timely book so important.  Imran Ahmad takes us with him on his personal journey of discovery, gradually learning the meaning of Islam, measuring it alongside Christianity and working out where and how he fits in.  I can’t wait to read more.'

Sue Cook   Broadcaster, writer

 

'This absorbing personal tale probably does more to help us understand each other in our multi-cultural society than one hundred Downing Street seminars.  It’s also very funny.'

John Pienaar   BBC Senior Political Correspondent, BBC Radio Five Political Editor

 

'Charming, informative and honest ... a childhood memoir in which the occasional bad thing happens, but is remembered and communicated without the melodrama or martyrdom of the form. The author has a photographic memory for all the important bits: mechanical failure in secondhand cars, dialogue and news stories glimpsed on television and precise exam scores.

 
I enjoyed the book very much ... I read Unimagined in two days.' 

Andrew Collins   Presenter: BBC Radio 6 Music;  Film Editor: Radio Times;  Author: Where Did It All Go Right?

 

'I was delightfully surprised to find a witty and incredibly relevant memoir which had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion.  It reminded me of Nigel Slater's Toast with the short, pithy chapters which are both moving and funny at the same time ... What's more, he has the best author [cover] photo I have seen in years. '

Scott Pack   Former Buying Manager: Waterstone’s;  Commercial Director: The Friday Project

 

'Compelling, revealing, and very easy to read.  I liked the short chapters and the way the incidental observations added up to a bigger picture.'  

Rosie Boycott   Broadcaster, journalist, author

 

'... style and a sense of humour ... what a change ... what a delightful change ... brilliant stories too about the joys and confusions of identity politics ...'

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown   Broadcaster, journalist, author;  Columnist: The Independent

 

Unimagined follows Imran Ahmad through his childhood days growing up as a Muslim in Britain during the 60’s, 70's and 80's, through school, university and into his first job.  It is engaging, an easy read and truly very funny.  Most of all it is profound and revealing, giving the Western reader a deep insight into the Muslim psyche.  In these days of incomprehensible suicide bombings and agonising military campaigns, when we live under the shadow of the 'Clash of Civilizations', this is a book that gives the world clarity and, perhaps, optimism.
 
Hugh Fraser   Broadcaster, writer

 

Book of the Week

Unimagined by Imran Ahmad I am jumping unashamedly onto this particular bandwagon as this is one of the best books I have read in ages. Clever, simple, funny and sad, the book describes the author's experience of growing up a Muslim in a newly multi-cultural Britain. Impossible to put down and equally impossible to forget.

Clare Christian   Managing Director: The Friday Project 

 

From: Kelder, Jeroen

To: Ahmad, Imran

Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 5:41 PM

Subject: Your book

Amazing - I sat next to a gentleman in the plane and he was reading your book and laughing. Have to note that he was quintessentially British.

--------------------------

Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld

 

News and Comment

'Why, oh why, do these awful things always happen to me?'  (UWRF 2008)   Read this one!   

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2008

'If I'd known you were coming, I'd have worn long trousers'   And this one!  

The Governor and the Canapé   This one too!

Darfur – a simple solution involving no guns, warships or economic sanctions

Imran Ahmad addresses the Cambridge Union Society

The Coincidence Delusion

The stupidity that cost us the 'war' in Iraq

The Veil is Vile

 

 

 

Imran Ahmad was at the

Sydney Writers' Festival

May 19 - 25, 2008

and on tour (17 - 28 May)

Schedule of events

Saturday, 17 May Melbourne 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm Melbourne Town Hall SBS/GNW Television
 – Filming of Salam Café		  
         
Thursday 22 May   12:00 pm – 1:00 pm ABC Radio National The World Today With Eleanor Hall
         
Wednesday 28 May   10:00 pm – 10:30 pm SBS Television Salam Café  
         
Thursday, 22 May Sydney 10:00 am – 11:00 am Sydney Theatre Not Another Misery Memoir … With Judith Lucy, Ryan Knighton
         
Thursday, 22 May Parramatta 6:30 pm – 7:45 pm Riverside Theatres – Lennox Theatre An Unimagined Evening With Randa Abdel-Fattah
         
Sunday, 25 May Sydney 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Pier 2/3 – Upstairs Writers' Salon An Unimagined Journey With Bruce Elder
         
Postponed   7:30 pm – SBS Television Insight With Lisa Main
         
Tuesday, 27 May Canberra 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Asia Bookroom An Unimagined Talk  

 

Australia Events and Links

Wed 28 May:    Salam Café – watch the show here after it aired

Thurs 22 May:    SWF – ‘Not Another Misery Memoir’

Thurs 22 May:    SWF – ‘An Unimagined Evening’ in Paramatta

Sun 25 May:    SWF – ‘An Unimagined Journey’

Tue 27 May:    Asia Bookroom, Canberra – ‘An Unimagined Talk’

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

E-mail:  Author@unimagined.co.uk

 

Click here

for full information about Unimagined:

  http://www.unimagined.co.uk/