Julie Begum chairs discussion with Shahida Rahman at writeidea festival 2022.
Shahida was born and raised in Cambridge, UK. Her late father, Abdul Karim moved to Cambridge from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1957. Shahida writes historical fiction, non-fiction and children’s stories, particularly focusing on and raising awareness of South Asian history, culture and heritage.
An Ayah’s Choice was published in March 2022 by Onwe Press. Set in the1900s, it tells the story of an Indian Ayah (nanny) and her journey to freedom and independence.
Her first novel Lascar is a work of historical fiction inspired by a paternal ancestor, The highly-acclaimed novel is the story of a lascar (seaman) and is set in the 1860s. She has contributed widely to print and online publications, including Best of British, The Great War and the Feminist and Women’s Studies Association and has blogged for the Huffington Post UK as well as to BBC Radio. She won the ‘Arts and Cultural Awareness Award’ at the British Muslim Awards in 2015.