Saleema Nawaz
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{short description|Canadian author (born 1979)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Saleema Nawaz
| image = Saleema Nawaz - Eden Mills Writers' Festival - 2013 (DanH-2205).jpg
| alt = Saleema Nawaz at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival in 2013
| caption = Nawaz at the Eden Mills Writers' Festival in 2013
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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1979}}
| birth_place = Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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| education = B.Hum. (Carleton University)
M.A. in English (University of Manitoba)
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| notable works = Mother Superior
| occupation = Author
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| awards = {{nowrap|2006 Robert Kroetsch Award}}
2008 Journey Prize
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Saleema Nawaz (born 1979) is a Canadian author whose works of short fiction have been published in literary journals such as Prairie Fire, PRISM International, Grain, The Dalhousie Review, and The New Quarterly.{{cite book|last=Nawaz|first=Saleema|title=Mother Superior|year=2008|publisher=Freehand Books|location=Calgary, Alberta, Canada|isbn=978-1-55111-927-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mothersuperiorst0000nawa/page/288 288]|url=https://archive.org/details/mothersuperiorst0000nawa/page/288}} Nawaz was born in Ottawa, Ontario and later moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba in order to study English at the University of Manitoba, where she received her M.A. with a creative writing thesis.{{cite web|url=http://www.thinairwinnipeg.ca/writers/saleema-nawaz|title=Saleema Nawaz|publisher=Thinairwinnipeg.ca|access-date=3 January 2015}} Her first complete collection of short fiction, entitled Mother Superior, was published by Freehand Books in 2008. Nawaz completed her first novel, Bone and Bread, published by Anansi Press in 2013, while residing in Montreal, Quebec.{{cite book|last=Nawaz|first=Saleema|title=Mother Superior|year=2008|publisher=Freehand Books|location=Calgary, Alberta, Canada|isbn=978-1-55111-927-4|url=https://archive.org/details/mothersuperiorst0000nawa}}
Biography
=Early life in Ottawa=
Saleema Nawaz was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. An only child, Nawaz was raised solely by her Caucasian Nova Scotian mother in the Ottawa neighbourhood of Centretown, in the absence of her Indian father.{{Cite web|url=http://www.westfest.ca/2009-artists|title=Westfest 2009 past artists|website=Westfest|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410072119/http://www.westfest.ca/2009-artists|archive-date=April 10, 2018|access-date=April 9, 2020}}{{cite web|url=http://www.aelaq.org/mrb/feature.php?issue=25&article=726&cat=1 |title=The Human Protest |first=Aparna |last=Sanyal |access-date=March 4, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090511064957/http://aelaq.org/mrb/feature.php?issue=25&article=726&cat=1 |archive-date=May 11, 2009 }} Nawaz began showing an interest in writing fiction as early as the first grade.{{cite web|url=http://publications.mcgill.ca/reporter/2009/01/saleema-nawaz-tapping-the-melancholic-muse/|title=Saleema Nawaz: Tapping the melancholic muse|publisher=Publications.mcgill.ca|access-date=3 January 2015}} During her high school years she attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute, a public school near her Centretown home. Upon graduation from high school Nawaz attended Carleton University in Ottawa, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Humanities.{{Cite web|url=https://quillandquire.com/authors/family-matters/|title=Family matters|date=2013-04-22|website=Quill and Quire|access-date=2020-04-10}}
= Winnipeg, Banff, and Montreal =
After receiving a Bachelor of Humanities at Carleton, Nawaz moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba to pursue her M.A. at the University of Manitoba. The M.A. program at the University of Manitoba interested Nawaz because it offered a Creative Thesis option. Since obtaining her degree, Nawaz has attended a writing studio program at the Banff Centre for the Arts and currently resides in Montreal, Quebec where she does administrative work for McGill University.{{Cite journal|last=Whittall|first=Zoe|date=2010|title=Working stiffs|journal=Quill & Quire|volume=76|pages=22–23}}
Writing career
=Influences=
Nawaz cites her biggest short fiction influences as Alice Munro, Tobias Wolff, and Raymond Carver.{{Cite web |url=http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/afterword/archive/2009/05/13/short-story-month-a-q-amp-a-with-saleema-nawaz.aspx |access-date=2023-06-07 |title=This URL has been excluded from the Wayback Machine.}}{{dead link|date=June 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
=Early work=
Nawaz' novella The White Dress{{cite thesis |last= Nawaz|first= Saleema|date= 2006|title= The White Dress|url= http://hdl.handle.net/1993/20366|degree= M.A.|chapter= |publisher= University of Manitoba|docket= |oclc= |access-date=2024-01-25}} (which would later appear in her collection, Mother Superior) won her the Robert Kroetsch Award for Best Creative Thesis in 2006.{{Cite web|url=http://quebecbooks.qwf.org/authors/view/700|title=QWF Literary Database of Quebec English-language Authors|website=quebecbooks.qwf.org|access-date=2020-04-10}} This award is given to the writer of the best creative thesis each year out of all University of Manitoba M.A. graduates.[http://www.ryerson.ca/library/events/asian_heritage/nawaz.html] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215161746/http://www.ryerson.ca/library/events/asian_heritage/nawaz.html |date=February 15, 2009 }} In the following years, Nawaz published several individual short stories in various literary publications across Canada (see "List of published works" below).
=''Mother Superior''=
In 2008, Nawaz published a collection of seven stories and two novellas entitled Mother Superior.{{Cite journal|last=Sanyal|first=Aparna|title=The Human Protest|url=http://www.aelaq.org/mrb/feature.php?issue=25&article=726&cat=1|journal=The Montreal Review of Books|volume=Twenty-seventh Issue. Volume 12, No. 1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090311015229/http://www.aelaq.org/mrb/feature.php?issue=25&article=726&cat=1|archive-date=2009-03-11}} The collection includes five previously published short stories as well as two previously unpublished short stories and two previously unpublished novellas. Mother Superior has generally been met with positive reviews, was a finalist for the prestigious McAuslan First Book Prize from the Quebec Writers' Federation.{{Cite web|url=http://quebecbooks.qwf.org/awards/year/2008|title=QWF Literary Database of Quebec English-Language Authors|date=2008|website=Quebec Writers Federation|access-date=April 9, 2020}} The stories in Mother Superior follow a diverse cast of female protagonists struggling with issues such as racism, abuse, death, anorexia, pregnancy and motherhood. Mother Superior is published by Freehand Books.
=''Bone and Bread''=
Nawaz's first novel, Bone and Bread, was edited by Melanie Little, Anansi's former senior fiction editor. Its narrative follows two sisters and is set in Montreal.{{Cite news|url=https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/saleema-nawaz-blood-ties-bones-and-bagels|title=Saleema Nawaz talks about Bone and Bread {{!}} National Post|last=Afterword|newspaper=National Post |date=2013-03-27|language=en-CA|access-date=2020-04-10}} The sisters are from her previously published short story "Bloodlines" (found in The New Quarterly and as a part of Mother Superior) twenty years after their original story. In 2016, Bone and Bread was defended by Farah Mohamed on CBC's Canada Reads competition.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/bone-and-bread-1.3970503|title=CBC Reads - Bone and Bread|date=July 10, 2017|website=CBC|access-date=April 9, 2020}}
= ''Songs for the End of the World'' =
Nawaz's most recent novel, which took her seven years to write, is a dystopian novel about a coronavirus that ravages the world. Given the 'eerie similarities' to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the publisher McClelland & Stewart decided to move up the publication of the e-book to April 14, 2020. The print book was released on August 25, 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/books/montreal-author-saleema-nawaz-began-writing-coronavirus-novel-in-2013|title=Montreal author Saleema Nawaz began writing coronavirus novel 7 years ago|last=Kelly|first=Brendan|date=April 14, 2020|website=Montreal Gazette|language=en-CA|access-date=2020-04-15}}{{Cite news|last=Lederman|first=Marsha|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books/article-this-montreal-author-imagined-the-coronavirus-six-years-ago/|title=This Montreal author imagined the coronavirus ... six years ago|date=April 9, 2020|work=The Globe and Mail|access-date=2020-04-15}}
List of published works
=Individual short stories=
- "Mother Superior" in PRISM International
- "Look, But Don't Touch" in Grain{{Cite journal|last=Nawaz|first=Saleema|date=Summer 2005|title=Look, But Don't Touch|journal=Grain Magazine|volume= 33 Issue|pages=131–138}}
- "My Three Girls" in Prairie Fire
- "Bloodlines" in The New Quarterly
- "Scar Tissue" in The Dalhousie Review{{Cite journal|last=Nawaz|first=Saleema|date=Summer 2008|title=Scar Tissue|journal=Dalhousie Review|volume=88|issue=2|pages=205–217}}
=Collections=
- Mother Superior published by Freehand Books, 2008
=Novels=
- Bone and Bread (House of Anansi, 2013)
- Songs for the End of the World (McClelland & Stewart, 2020)
Awards and honours
- Winner of the inaugural Robert Kroetsch Award for Best Creative Thesis at the University of Manitoba for her novella "The White Dress", 2006.
- Winner of the Writers' Trust of Canada's McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize for her short story "My Three Girls", 2008.
- Placed second in the Malahat Review Novella Contest for her novella "The White Dress".
- Finalist for the Quebec Writers' Federation's McAuslan First Book Prize for her collection entitled Mother Superior, 2008.
- Winner of the Quebec Writers' Federation's Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, 2013.{{cite web |url=https://montrealgazette.com/news/Nawaz+Gollner+take+honours/9186963/story.html |title=Nawaz, Gollner take top QWF honours |work=Montreal Gazette |date=November 20, 2013 |access-date=April 9, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227194131/http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Nawaz+Gollner+take+honours/9186963/story.html |archive-date=February 27, 2014 }}
References
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Category:Canadian women novelists
Category:Canadian women short story writers
Category:Canadian writers of Asian descent
Category:Carleton University alumni
Category:Lisgar Collegiate Institute alumni
Category:21st-century Canadian short story writers