The book group favourites: Kasim Ali & Sarah Winman
****PLEASE NOTE that, due to the rail strike on Saturday 8 October, Sarah Winman can no longer attend this event. The event will go ahead, with Kasim Ali interviewed by Angela Hicken about his book GOOD INTENTIONS.****
Every so often, books get published which take on a life of their own.
Sarah Winman’s fourth novel, Still Life, was just such a book – since publication in June 2021 it has been on the Sunday Times bestseller lists consistently for both hardback and paperback, chosen for several major book clubs including the BBC Radio 2 book club, and adored by reading groups across the UK.
When Kasim Ali’s debut, Good Intentions, was published in March 2022, his story of an interracial relationship between Nur, a Pakistani British boy from Birmingham, and Yasmina, a Sudanese British girl from Manchester, could not have been more timely.
With discussions about racism, sexuality, family expectations and mental health, Good Intentions has set readers talking and thinking about issues like very few other books.
Chaired by Angela Hicken of the West Midlands Readers’ Network
About the speakers:
Sarah Winman grew up in Essex and now lives in London. She attended the Weber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and went on to act in theatre, film and television. Her first novel, When God Was a Rabbit was an international bestseller, her second A Year of Marvellous Ways was a Sunday Times bestseller and Tin Man was shortlisted for the Costa Novel award 2018. Winman’s most recent novel Still Life, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller, a BBC Between the Covers bookclub pick and winner of The InWords Literary Award.
Kasim Ali works at Penguin Random House and has previously been shortlisted for Hachette’s Mo Siewcherran Prize, longlisted for the 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize, and has contributed to The Good Journal. He comes from Birmingham and now lives in London. Good Intentions is his debut novel.
