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Writer Mohammed Hanif wins Sitara-e-Imtiaz award

Writer Mohammed Hanif wins Sitara-e-Imtiaz award

After bagging the third-highest civilian award in the country, he took to Twitter to acknowledge the news
17 Mar, 2018

The author who minces no words, Mohammed Hanif has bagged the third-highest civilian award of Pakistan, the Sitara-e-Imtiaz.

The former journalist and writer of the critically-acclaimed novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes took to Twitter to announce the news. Well, sort of...

“Thank you all for your lovely messages. Now can someone please tell me how does one collect it because GoP is a bit coy on the subject,” he wrote, adding that he was “thrilled at the prospects of meeting fellow winners Fidel and Amanullah. Hope we all get to party with President Mamnun.”

A voracious reader as a child, Mohammed Hanif grew up in a village in Punjab and then enlisted in the military to experience life outside a small town and trained as a fighter pilot. After leaving the military he entered journalism, and remained in London until 2008 before returning to Pakistan. He has worked as a journalist, a novelist and, most recently, a playwright.

His body of work also includes a feature film, The Long Night (2002), a BBC radio play, What Now, Now That We Are Dead? and the stage play The Dictator's Wife (2008). His second novel, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti, was published in 2011. Hanif's next novel, titled Red Birds, has been acquired by Bloomsbury and will see the light of day in September 2018.

Comments

Pro Bono Publico Mar 17, 2018 01:51pm
Congratulations!
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Sameer Mar 17, 2018 02:30pm
Exploding mangoes is so fascinating... I wonder if it isnt a piece of fiction at all.
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Ghar_Damad Mar 17, 2018 03:50pm
Well deserved
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Faisal Mar 17, 2018 04:46pm
Well deserved.
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Mar 17, 2018 06:21pm
Welcome to the club. Keep it up and hang on tough.
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rizwan Mar 17, 2018 07:31pm
I remember his voice on BBC urdu service radio !Has come a long way!
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