Qaisra Shahraz


Qaisra Shahraz is a British-Pakistani novelist, scriptwriter, college inspector, teacher trainer, education consultant and freelance journalist. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a former director of Gatehouse Books, publishing books written by students for Skills for Life classes. She has hosted many workshops and training sessions on "Quality in Education" in Pakistan and India through the British Council. Her work is mostly focused on the diversity of mankind exploring aspects of racial, gender, and cultural divides. In 2016 she won the Lifetime Achiever Award at the National Diversity Awards held at Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral.

Early life

Qaisra Shahraz was born in Pakistan in 1958 and raised in England. She has lived in Manchester since age nine. She has master's degrees in European literature and screenwriting. She worked as an advisor for the University of Lancaster, as well as a college inspector and a journalist.

Career

Shahraz says she writes mainly to entertain and to explore women’s issues. She writes mainly about Muslim women living in western societies. A critical analysis of her work appeared in The Holy and the Unholy: Critical Essays on Qaisra Shahraz’s Fiction .
Qaisra Shahraz has been published in magazines and newspapers including The Times. Originally she concentrated on short stories, but progressed to writing longer works. Her novel The Holy Woman was published in multiple countries and languages. She wrote a drama serial Dil he to hay that reached Pakistan Television and received two awards.
Her early creation, "A pair of Jeans" was published in the UK in 1988. It explores the issue of clothing, female modesty, multiple identities and cultural clashes. In 1989, it was picked by a German Professor/Editor, Dr. Liesel Hermes, as a literary text to be used in German schools for the German Abitur examination. She has been active in Cochin for inaugurating the DC international book fair.

Works

"A Pair of Jeans" has been published twelve times, including eight in Germany and was featured in the local literary scenes of many other countries.

Novels

Publication-UK
Publication-Germany
Publication-Holland
Publication-India
Publication-Indonesia
Publication-Pakistan
Publication-Turkey