Sameer Rahim
{{short description|British journalist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Sameer Rahim is a British literary journalist and novelist. He became Managing Editor (Arts and Books) at Prospect magazine,[https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/author/sameer-rahim Prospect Magazine] website. 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,{{cite web|url=https://unbound.com/boundless/2019/11/13/learning-to-speak-islam/|title=Learning to speak Islam|first=Sameer|last=Rahim|website=Boundless|date=13 November 2019}} he was a winner of the William Hazlitt Essay Prize 2013 for "The Shadow of the Scroll: Reconstructing Islam's Origins".{{cite web|url=https://www.nottinghilleditions.com/product/william-hazlitt-essay-prize-2013-the-winners/|title=William Hazlitt Essay Prize 2013: The Wiinners|publisher=Notting Hill Editions}} Rahim's critical writing includes pieces on V. S. Naipaul, Kazuo Ishiguro, Clive James and Geoffrey Hill.{{cite web|url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/judges/sameer-rahim|title=Sameer Rahim {{!}} 2020 Booker Prize Judge|publisher=The Booker Prizes|access-date=27 October 2022}}
Career
After studying English at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he edited the student newspaper,{{cite web|url=https://blog.yorksj.ac.uk/creativewriting/2017/03/10/an-evening-with-sameer-rahim-of-prospect-magazine/|title=An Evening with Sameer Rahim of Prospect Magazine|website=Where Ideas Grow|publisher=York St John University|date=10 March 2017}} Rahim worked as a teacher before focusing on a career in literary journalism.{{cite web|url=https://ymwa.org.uk/museum-of-awards/museum-of-awards-mwa-2011/|title=Museum of Awards MWA – 2011|website=ymwa.org.uk}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.maslaha.org/Trustees/Sameer-Rahim|title=Meet the Trustees: Sameer Rahim|website=Maslaha}} In 2022, it was announced that in November Rahim would be joining The Bridge Street Press, an imprint of Little, Brown, as publisher.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/books-journalist-rahim-appointed-publisher-at-the-bridge-street-press|title=Books journalist Rahim appointed publisher at The Bridge Street Press|first=Luren|last=Brown|magazine=The Bookseller|date=15 September 2022|access-date=27 October 2022}}
He is the author of the 2019 novel Asghar and Zahra, published by John Murray.{{cite web|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/two-fresh-titles-jm-originals-list-975261|title=John Murray snaps up debuts from Fagan and Rahim|work=The Bookseller|first=Mark|last=Chandler|date=25 March 2019}} The New Statesman called the book "sparkling ... a novel of charm and compassion",{{cite web|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2019/06/sameer-rahim-s-asghar-and-zahra-sparkling-comedy-muslim-manners|title=Sameer Rahim's Asghar and Zahra: a sparkling comedy of Muslim manners|first=Catherine|last=Taylor|work=New Statesman|date=27 June 2019}} 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",{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/28/asghar-and-zahra-sameer-rahim-review|title=Asghar and Zahra by Sameer Rahim review – a tender, clear-eyed portrait|first=Alice|last=O'Keeffe|newspaper=The Guardian|date=28 June 2020}} 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."{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/asghar-zahra-sameer-rahim-review-unmaking-islamic-marriage/|title=Asghar and Zahra by Sameer Rahim, review: the unmaking of an Islamic marriage|first=Sophie |last=Ratcliffe|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=3 July 2019}} Other positive reviews appeared in the TLS,{{cite web|url=https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/loyalty-vs-passion/|title=Loyalty vs passion: The demands of Western love and Eastern tradition|first=Azadeh|last=Moaveni|author-link=Azadeh Moaveni|work=TLS|date=5 July 2019}} the Literary Review,{{cite journal|url=https://literaryreview.co.uk/starting-points|title=Starting Points|first=Michael|last=Delgado|journal=Literary Review|date=July 2019}} 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.
Rahim has served as a judge for literary awards including the Forward Prize for Poetry,{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/poetryandplaybookreviews/8811845/Judging-the-Forward-Prize.html|title=Judging the Forward Prize|first=Sameer|last=Rahim|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=7 October 2011}} the Orwell Prize for Political Writing{{cite web|url=https://www.orwellfoundation.com/book-title/the-beautiful-and-the-damned-life-in-the-new-india/|title=2012 Book Prize Short List|publisher=Orwell Foundation}} and the Costa Poetry Award,{{cite web|url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/news/2018costa/|title=Shortlist, 2018 Costa Poetry Award|publisher=Poetry Society|date=23 November 2018}} most recently being selected for the 2020 Booker Prize jury alongside Margaret Busby, Lee Child, Lemn Sissay and Emily Wilson.{{cite news|url= https://www.thebookseller.com/news/lee-child-busby-and-sissay-join-2020-booker-prize-judges-1147391|title= Child, Busby and Sissay join 2020 Booker Prize judging panel|last=Chandler|first=Mark|work=The Bookseller|date=7 January 2020|access-date=26 August 2020}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2020/sep/15/judging-the-booker-prize-these-books-are-about-living-under-intense-pressure|title=Judging the Booker prize: 'These books are about living under intense pressure'|first=Sameer|last=Rahim|newspaper=The Guardian|date=15 September 2020}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/eyes-on-the-prize-my-year-as-a-booker-judge-shuggie-bain|title=Eyes on the prize: my year as a Booker judge|first=Sameer|last=Rahim|magazine=Prospect|date=29 November 2020}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/57-sameer-rahim/id1326888108?i=1000463958718 #57 Sameer Rahim], The Sacred Podcast.
- [https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/author/sameer-rahim Sameer Rahim articles] at Prospect magazine.
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Category:21st-century British novelists
Category:21st-century British essayists
Category:21st-century male writers
Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge