An Isolated Incident: In first novel, Soniah Kamal looks at survival

The Pakistani-American writer is all set to launch book in Islamabad, Lahore next


Our Correspondent December 18, 2014

KARACHI: A saga of love, loss and survival, An Isolated Incident is Soniah Kamal’s first novel that was launched on Wednesday.

The novel is set in Kashmir, the United States (US), Afghanistan and Pakistan. It explores ways to survive through various kinds of losses, such as the loss of family, the loss of ideals and the loss of love. The Second Floor cafe hosted an interactive launch of Kamal’s debut novel with moderator Fahad Kamal.



Born in Karachi, Kamal grew up in Pakistan, England and Saudi Arabia and currently resides in the US. She said it was the maternal side of her family that inspired her novel. “The maternal side of my family is from Srinagar and they used to tell me how difficult life in Kashmir was,” she told The Express Tribune. “I began to write this book after promising my late Kashmiri grandfather that I will write about Kashmir.”

The theme of this novel is love for your home and the feeling of belonging to your home and to your loved ones, the writer added.

Kamal admitted that her interests include reading and reading alone. “I am currently working on a collection of short stories and after that I will write another novel,” she said.

The book launch was attended by a large number of literary enthusiasts. “The world needs much more attention and only fiction can do justice to this,” said filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. “I am really excited to hear what Soniah has said about Kashmir.”

In his endorsement for An Isolated Incident, writer Khaled Hosseini was full of praise. “Soniah Kamal has written a deeply engaging novel about the disturbed condition of Kashmir and the impact of the conflict on one ordinary family,” he has written. “A wonderful novel it is, with remarkable poise and elegant, precise prose, Kamal explores identity and exile, hope and disillusionment, and the fault lines in the lives of the people living in the shadow of war.”

After Karachi, Kamal will be travelling to Lahore and Islamabad to launch her novel.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2014.

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