Farah Ahamed

Farah Ahamed writes short fiction which has been published in The Massachusetts Review, Comma Press, and Kwani?. Her stories are bound by an overall sense of oppression and rebellion and explore the ways in which culture, religion, politics and tribalism constrain and determine working life and relationships. They range in time from the early days of independence in East Africa to the present.

Her writing spans many themes –identity, self-determination, ethnic/religious/gender conflicts, through to relationships, and family dynamics. Throughout she is trying to understand our humanity: what sets us apart, and bring us together, as humans.

Recently she was longlisted for the Canadian CBC Books 2019 Short Story Award. She was joint winner of the inaugural Gerald Kraak Award and was highly commended in the London Short Story Prize. Her essays and stories have been shortlisted for the Thresholds Essay Prize, Screen Craft Prize, SI Leeds Literary Prize, DNA/Out of Print Award, and The Asian Writer Short Story Prize. She has been nominated for The Pushcart and Caine prizes.

Farah is a lawyer with a Diploma in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. She was born in Kenya and currently lives between London and Lahore. At the moment she is working on a short story collection inspired by Lahore.