Hanif Kureishi (b.1954) is a British playwright, screenwriter, and novelist of Pakistani and English descent whose works explore in graphic terms the experiences of British Asians. Controversial for his left-wing politics and his rigid views on literary production, he has also written short stories, criticism, and reviews.
Born in the London suburb of Bromley, Kureishi studied philosophy at Lancaster University and at King’s College, London, where he earned a B.A. in 1977. He became writer-in-residence at the Royal Court Theatre in 1981 and won widespread recognition for his screenplay My Beautiful Launderette (1986,) a bittersweet portrayal of the Asian experience in Britain. It was followed by the screenplay Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1988) and the television play The Buddha of Suburbia (1993; originally written as a novel, 1990.)
Among Kureishi’s other works of fiction are Intimacy (1998,) Gabriel’s Gift (2001,) The Mother (2003,) and Venus (2006.) His memoir about his father, My Ear at His Heart, appeared in 2004.
Kureishi’s collection of short stories includes Love in a Blue Time (1997) and Midnight All Day (1999.) One of his stories was made into the film My Son the Fanatic (1998.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Hanif Kureishi
Love cannot be measured by its duration…
—Hanif Kureishi
Nothing can be repaired or advanced but only accepted
—Hanif Kureishi
I know love is dark work; you have to get your hands dirty. If you hold back, nothing interesting happens. At the same time, you have to find the right distance between people. Too close, and they overwhelm you; too far and they abandon you. How to hold them in the right relation?
—Hanif Kureishi
If you never left anything or anyone there would be no room for the new. Naturally, to move on is an infidelity—to others, to the past, to old notions of oneself. Perhaps every day should contain at least one essential infidelity or necessary betrayal. It would be an optimistic, hopeful act, guaranteeing belief in the future—a declaration that things can be not only different but better.
—Hanif Kureishi
Our lives can only be lived forward and understood backwards. Living a life and understanding it occupy different dimensions.
—Hanif Kureishi
You don’t stop loving someone just because you hate them.
—Hanif Kureishi
How disturbing it is that our illusions are often our most important beliefs.
—Hanif Kureishi
Falling in love was simple; one had only to yield. Digesting another person, however, and sustaining love, was bloody work, and not a soft job.
—Hanif Kureishi
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