Tahmima Anam (Bengali: তাহমিমা আনাম) was born on October 8, 1975. She is a writer, novelist, and columnist who was born in Bangladesh and later became a British citizen. Her first novel, A Golden Age, was published in 2007 and won the Best First Book award at the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prizes. Her second novel, The Good Muslim, was nominated for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize. She is the granddaughter of Abul Mansur Ahmed and the daughter of Mahfuz Anam.

Early life

Anam was born on October 8, 1975, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Mahfuz Anam and Shaheen Anam. When she was two years old, she moved to Paris because her parents worked for UNESCO. She lived in Paris, New York, and Bangkok, and she heard about the Bangladesh Liberation War from her parents.

Education

At 17, Anam received a scholarship to attend Mount Holyoke College, where she graduated in 1997. She earned a PhD in anthropology from Harvard University in 2005 for her thesis titled "Fixing the Past: War, Violence, and Habitations of Memory in Post-Independence Bangladesh." Later, she completed a Master of Arts in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Career

In March 2007, Anam's first novel, A Golden Age, was published by John Murray. She was inspired by her parents to write about the Bangladesh Liberation War. The book was a finalist for the Costa First Novel Award. A Golden Age follows the story of a woman named Rehana Haque during the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971. Anam studied the war during her post-graduation work. To help her research, she lived in Bangladesh for two years and spoke with many freedom fighters called Mukti Bahini. She also worked on the set of Tareque and Catherine Masud’s critically acclaimed film Matir Moina (The Clay Bird), which reflects the war.

Anam's second novel, The Good Muslim, published in 2011, is a follow-up to A Golden Age and focuses on the war's aftermath. It was long listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize. In 2013, Anam was named one of Granta's "Best of Young British Novelists." In 2015, her short story "Garments," inspired by the Rana Plaza building collapse, was published. It won the O. Henry Award and was shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award. That same year, she became a judge for the Man Booker International Prize 2016.

In 2016, Anam's novel The Bones of Grace was published by HarperCollins. The following year, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Anam's op-ed pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, and New Statesman. In these writings, she has discussed Bangladesh and its growing challenges.

In 2021, Anam's novel The Startup Wife was published by Canongate Books. It was chosen as a Best Book of 2021 by The Observer, Stylist, Cosmopolitan, Red, and The Daily Mail. It was also shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2022.

In 2022, Anam gave a TEDx talk titled "The Power of Holding Silence: Making the Workplace Work for Women." That same year, her first book, A Golden Age, was included in Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee book list, a collection of 70 books from across the Commonwealth to celebrate her 70 years on the throne.

In 2026, Anam published her fifth novel, Uprising, which The Guardian described as "a fiery novel of female rebellion."

Personal life

In 2010, Anam married Roland O. Lamb, an American inventor who met her at Harvard University. The couple has a son named Rumi. Rumi was born early and did not eat for five years. Anam has written about this difficult experience. As of 2011, she lived in London.