She earned creative-writing degrees in the United States from Hamilton College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has taught at both. Shamsie is the author of five novels: In the City by the Sea (Granta, 1998), Salt and Saffron (Bloomsbury, 2000), Kartography (Bloomsbury, 2002; Harcourt, 2002), Broken Verses (Bloomsbury, 2005; Harcourt, 2005), and Burnt Shadows (Bloomsbury, forthcoming 2009; Doubleday, forthcoming 2009). Her books have been translated into several languages. She has won the Prime Minister’s Award for Literature and the Patras Bokhari Award in Pakistan and has been short-listed for the Liberaturpreis in Germany and twice for the John Rhys Llewellyn Award in Britain. She has also received the British Council’s 70th Anniversary Cultural Relations Award. She has written for many publications, including the New York Times, The Guardian (UK), Dawn (Pakistan), and The Daily Star (Bangladesh). After many years of living between upstate New York, London, and Karachi, Shamsie is now based in London.
