Farah Ali | People Want To Live 

March 31, 2022
Speaker: Farah Ali, Author
Moderator: Mehak Faisal Khan, PhD Candidate in English, UC Berkeley
Sponsors: Institute for South Asia Studies, Sarah Kailath Chair of India Studies, The Berkeley Pakistan Initiative
The Berkeley Pakistan Initiative is proud to launch Pakistan@Berkeley, a new student-led speaker series in which prominent Pakistani writers, artists and public intellectuals share their ideas about where Pakistan is going economically, socially and politically, with Berkeley and the larger community.
This event in this series is a conversation with Pakistani author, Farah Ali and her debut collection of stories, People Want to Live.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
People Want to Live, Farah Ali’s debut collection, features stories of togetherness and reckless faith in the face of a world that’s built to break us.
Set in Pakistan, these award-winning stories follow people living on the brink of abandonment-in their personal relationships and their place in the world. A mother, coping with the sudden death of her son, uncovers long-buried secrets in his absence. An anguished girl grabs a chance for a life beyond the orphanage walls where she lives, and discovers the price of freedom. A young couple tries to keep their fraught relationship intact as a heat wave engulfs their city. A son returns to visit his aging parents while beset with memories of a troubled childhood. And two thieves find themselves in a situation more precarious by the minute, and more dangerous than their original mission.
Ali’s characters battle loneliness and, in their fight, reveal surprising vulnerabilities and an astonishing measure of hope.el and librettos for two operas, “Bhutto” and “The Dictator’s Wife.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Farah Ali is from Karachi, Pakistan. Her work won the 2020 Pushcart Prize and received special mention in the 2018 Pushcart anthology. Her more recent stories can be found in Shenandoah, The Arkansas International, The Southern Review, and Kenyon Review online. Her debut short-story collection, People Want to Live, is forthcoming from McSweeney’s in October 2021.