Writing from behind the veil

Terrorist attacks, burqa bans and public flogging ironically mean good news for Muslim writers, and the publishers backing them. Fiona Fernandez asks why Islamic writing in English, especially by women, is piquing reader interest

It's official. The writer's voice behind the veil is no longer a subdued sigh. It's a loud chorus, with a confident message that the breed has arrived, internationally. "We plumbed for Shelina Zahra Janmohamed's Love in a Headscarf for our launch, to make people sit up and take notice. There were a few typical literary titles we could've launched with, but this was special. It's a light but sensitive portrayal of the modern British-Muslim woman," says Sanjana Roy Choudhury, Head of Publishing, Amaryllis. The novel was launched in India this week.

The Guardian has called it "irreverent and feminine", while The Daily Mail dubbed it "hilarious". But the woman at the centre of it, UK-based Janmohamed, says her debut, now in its third edition in the UK, grew from a desire to deviate from the prototype.

"After I started my blog four years ago, a mix of humour, honesty and East-West insight, I was often asked why I hadn't written a book about being a Muslim woman. I resisted for long, because I assumed what many people do -- that I couldn't write unless I was a movie star or a politician! I walked into a local bookstore and spotted a special display of books that screamed 'sold', 'oppressed' or 'kidnapped'".

The tales were topped off with accounts of rejection of Islam and the nirvana of liberation from it, she says in an email interview. None of the books on that shelf told her story. She had to write it herself.

"So, I chose to write a humorous tale, one that touches each of us, looking at questions of love, life and meaning, but through the eyes of a Muslim woman. Mostly, I wanted to explore the contradictions and contrast, and humour was the best medium."

Inside the mind of the Muslim woman
"This interest is a fallout of the way Islam is looked upon now. The climate is conducive to this sort of writing," says VK Karthika, Chief Editor, HarperCollins India, citing Sadia Dehlvi's Sufism and Rakhshanda Jalil's Panchlight and Other Stories -- works translated from Urdu to English -- by Indian and Pakistani writers. While Dehlvi's work vociferously argues that Sufism is at the heart of Islam, Jalil weaves in scenarios extracted from the ordinary Muslim woman's life. Jalil's collection of short stories is due for release in 2011.

Tahmima Anam's A Golden Age (Hachette India) and Monica Ali's Brick Lane (Penguin) have also deviated from stereotype. "The recent focus on Islam has made everyone more curious to understand the mind of the Muslim woman. More fiction and non-fiction titles have been written over the last 15 years," says Nandita Aggarwal, Editorial Director, Adult Books, Hachette India.

Beating stereotypes
For Janmohamed, wearing the hijab is not a sign of religion; it's a way of life, says Roy Choudhury. "She drives a sports car while curious suitors wonder about her hair colour!" And that perhaps is also the reason why the author had to knock on several doors. "Commissioning editors loved the story, but couldn't see it fitting the existing mould of Muslim women.u00a0 'We need an 'alias' of a book that is already out there so people understand how it relates to previous books,' they said. It had to be a forced marriage story or one about the escape from Islam," says Janmohamed, wondering how editorial suffocation can help authors create an understanding of Islamic diversity and complexity.

West is won, India next?
Women's literature from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan is a saleable genre in the West, largely because it appears to be a bigger political reality there. India has to catch up. Yet, A Golden Age (about a widow during Bangladesh's war for independence) was received fairly well in India. Hachette sold 4,500 copies (since its April 2008 release). "It wasn't a success in the UK, but got great reviews," Aggarwal says.

Shahriar Mandanipour's Censoring an Iranian Love Story, was written in Farsi but cannot be read in Iran. This story of lovers Dara and Sara in Tehran who can't walk the streets without attracting moral patrols, sold 200 copies. "We hope to sell about 2,000 copies when it releases in paperback, early next year. Again, it wasn't a UK bestseller but received excellent reviews," according to Jaeza Daruwalla and Riti Jagoorie, Product Managers at Hachette India. In fact, Love in a Headscarf is already signed across several European countries and the US. Some media has hailed her as the 'Muslim Bridget Jones.'

"Most Islamic writing in English, particularly from Pakistan, is well received here, mostly the fast-paced, thriller fiction genre. The language is racy; it's not exactly brilliant writing but makes for readable content. Indian readers find it easier to connect with topics like terrorism, now more than ever before," says Sivaraman Balakrishnan, Marketing Manager, Crossword Bookstores.

The package matters
Janmohamed says stereotyping extends to book covers too; think women with soppy eyes behind a tightly-wrapped niqab. While her book sports a refreshingly bright pink jacket, others like Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and Nicholas Wild's Kabul Disco (HarperCollins) were runaway successes because of their format. "It (Persepolis) became popular because people love graphic novels. Else, it may have been lost among numerous titles about that part of the world," reasons Rachel Tanzer, Director of Publicity, RandomHouse India. A hundred copies of Kabul Disco were sold instantly at a Kabul bookstore, with requests for more. The burqa on the cover was spray painted in black, as a precautionary measure.

Janmohamed is eager to see how India receives her book. "The more voices and stories we get into the public domain, the better it is for everyone's understanding of what it's really like to be a Muslim woman,"
she says.

The Afghan women's project
Th Afghan Women's Writing Project (https://www.awwproject.org/) began as an idea during novelist Masha Hamilton's trip to Afghanistan in November 2008, when she discovered it was one of the worst places in the world to be a woman. Fearing that intelligent women might lose access to their voices, she set up the AWWP, aimed at allowing Afghan women to have a direct voice without being filtered through male relatives or members of the media. Many of these Afghan women writers travel for miles for computer access, to submit their writings in English to the project. The project reaches out to talented and generous women author/ teachers in the US who enroll as volunteers to teach Afghan women online in Afghanistan. Submissions remain the work of the Afghani woman author.

The handbook
Know youru00a0 veiled writers and protagonists
Saris and the City by Rekha Waheed (Hachette India): Yasmin Yusuf wants to escape the drudgery of arranged marriage, and live a liberated life.
Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea (Fig Tree): Considered quite subversive, this Saudi Arabian take on Sex and the City looks at how four confident women defy tradition and propriety in one of Islamic world's most intolerant societies.
A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam (Hachette India): Hailing from an illustrious literary lineage, Tahmima's story is an evocative one about a widow and her children. It is set in the Bangladesh war for Independence.
In the Eye of the Sun by Ahdaf Soueif (Bloomsbury): Egyptian-born Ahdaf charts the life of heroine Aysa Ulama set against the background of Egyptian and Middle East politics from 1967-1980.