Hanif Kureishi was born on 5 December 1954 and is a British playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist of South Asian and English descent.
18 Facts About Hanif Kureishi
2.
Hanif Kureishi was born in Bromley, South London to a Pakistani father, Rafiushan Hanif Kureishi, and an English mother, Audrey Buss.
3.
Hanif Kureishi's father was from a wealthy Madras family, whose members moved to Pakistan after the Partition of India in 1947.
4.
Hanif Kureishi attended Bromley Technical High School and studied for A-levels at Bromley College of Technology.
5.
Hanif Kureishi went on to spend a year studying philosophy at Lancaster University, then withdrew.
6.
Hanif Kureishi started his career in the 1970s as a pornography writer, under the pseudonyms Antonia French and Karim.
7.
Hanif Kureishi went on to write plays for the Hampstead Theatre, Soho Poly, and by the age of 18, was with the Royal Court.
8.
Hanif Kureishi wrote My Beautiful Laundrette in 1985, a screenplay about a gay Pakistani-British boy growing up in 1980s London for a film directed by Stephen Frears.
9.
Hanif Kureishi wrote the screenplay for Sammy and Rosie Get Laid.
10.
Hanif Kureishi wrote the 2006 screenplay Venus, and for his performance in this movie, Peter O'Toole received Oscar, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, Broadcast Film Critics Association and Golden Globe nominations in the best actor category.
11.
Hanif Kureishi's family have accused him of exploiting them with thinly disguised references in his work; Hanif Kureishi has denied the claims.
12.
Hanif Kureishi wrote, in a letter to The Guardian, that if her family's history had to become public, she would not stand by and let it be "fabricated for the entertainment of the public or for Hanif's profit".
13.
Hanif Kureishi says that his description of her family's working-class roots are fictitious.
14.
Hanif Kureishi was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2008 New Year Honours for services to Literature and Drama.
15.
In early 2013, Hanif Kureishi lost his life savings, intended to cover "the ups and downs of being a writer", in a suspected fraud.
16.
In 2014, the British Library announced that it would be acquiring the archive of Hanif Kureishi's documents spanning 40 years of his writing life.
17.
On 26 December 2022, Hanif Kureishi was hospitalised following a fall in Rome, which left him with spinal injuries and unable to move his limbs.
18.
Hanif Kureishi stated that his partner, Isabella d'Amico, helped keep him calm and saved his life.