Attia Hosain | |
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![]() Hosain in the 1930s | |
Born | 20 October 1913 Lucknow, United Provinces, British India |
Died | 25 January 1998 London, United Kingdom | (aged 84)
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | Indian, British |
Genre | Novels |
Spouse | Ali Bahadur Habibullah (1909–1982) |
Children | Waris Hussein, Shama Habibullah |
Attia Hosain (20 October 1913 – 25 January 1998)[1] was a British-Indian novelist, author, writer, broadcaster, journalist and actor.[2][3] She was a woman of letters and a diasporic writer. She wrote in English although her mother tongue was Urdu.[4] She wrote the semi-autobiographical novel Sunlight on a Broken Column (1961) and a collection of short stories titled Phoenix Fled. Her career began in England in semi-exile making a contribution to post-colonial literature. Anita Desai, Vikram Seth, Aamer Hussein and Kamila Shamsie have acknowledged her influence.