MUP to release ‘vivid and unvarnished’ first biography of Kureishi

The first biography of Hanif Kureishi is set to be published by Manchester University Press (MUP).

Matthew Frost, senior commissions editor, acquired world all-language rights to Hanif Kureishi: Writing the Self  by Ruvani Ranasinha, professor of global literature at King’s College London, from The Wiley Agency. The book will publish on 29th August.

Taking five years of research and writing, Ranasinha’s biography draws on Kureishi’s unexplored personal archive and “recounts the seismic impact that he had on British fiction and film in the late ’80s, which led to an award-winning, often controversial 40-year career".

The synopsis continues: “It illuminates the work he produced over the decades, from the global successes of My Beautiful Laundrette  and The Buddha of Suburbia through to late masterpieces such as  Le Week-end and The Nothing (Faber and Faber). Hanif Kureishi is still one of Britain’s most popular, brave and versatile writers. Ranasinha offers a vivid and unvarnished portrait of a major talent who has inspired a new generation of writers from a range of backgrounds.”

Frost said: “We’re delighted to be able to publish this capacious, extraordinary work on one of the most talented, brave and varied of writers. It is as honest as its subject and a fascinating exploration of a writer who has mastered many genres. It is unlikely to be matched.”

Kureishi is still recovering in hospital in Italy after a fall while on holiday in Rome at Christmas left him unable to move his arms and legs.