Tabish Khair is an Indian English writer, poet and professor. He teaches at the Department of English at Aarhus University, Denmark. He is best known for his book Jihadi Jane and the science fiction novel Body on the Shore (2022).
Wiki/Biography
Tabish Khair was born on Monday, March 21, 1966, in Ranchi, Bihar (now Jharkhand) (age 57; as of 2023). His zodiac sign is Aries. He grew up in Gaya, Bihar. He completed his secondary education at the local Nazareth College. He came from a family of doctors and engineers, and his father wanted Tabish to pursue a career in medicine, like everyone in the family. After school, he began studying medicine but later dropped out to study for a BA in English (Hons), Sociology and History. He graduated in 1986 and later studied for a master’s degree in English at the local Magadh University and moved to Delhi to start his writing career in newspapers and news magazines. While in Delhi, he fell in love with a Danish girl and moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, for her. Tabish Khair initially worked as an immigrant in Denmark, cleaning hotels, washing dishes and painting houses. Later in 1999, he received a PhD scholarship to pursue his PhD at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
appearance
Hair color: black
Eye color: brown
family
Parents and siblings
Tabish’s father, Dr. Khalid Kher, was a doctor, and his mother was a business owner who later became a homemaker. His father died in December 2013.
Tabish Kyle’s parents
Tubbys Kyle and his mother
wife and children
Tabish Khair has 3 children, 2 daughters and a son. There is not much information about his wife.
Tabish Kyle and his children
other relatives
Karam Hyderi
Karam Hyderi is a businessman, lecturer and author. He is Tabish’s uncle because he married Tabish’s aunt. Inspired by Kalam’s literary and political interests, Tabish visited his home every day and spent time with him in his downstairs office. Tabish met many writers there, such as Joginder Paul, and heard about many writers, including Ismat Chughtai, Krishen Chander and Bhisham Sahni. Kalam Hyderi founded the Cultural Institute to help young writers and students write and publish in Urdu. While in college, Tabish also edited several issues of the six-monthly English-language magazine Rachna.
Dr. Kalam Haidri, uncle of Tabish Khair
Tabish wrote an article about his uncle “Kalam Haidri: Phoopajaan” for the online platform Life and Legends. In the article, Tabish wrote of his last conversation with his uncle:
I remember teasing him on my last visit. As he picked up his prayer mat and walked towards a quiet corner, I said to him, “But Phoopajaan, I thought communists didn’t believe in God.” He turned to me, smiled, and quipped, “When you arrive my age , son, you would rather not take any risks.
Religion/Religious Views
Tabish Khair believes in Islam but according to him religion is a complex issue and he talked about this in an interview saying,
Religion is a complex issue. I greatly admire theorists like Terry Eagleton, who is an atheistic Marxist but deeply engaged in his religious tradition. I don’t like people who blindly believe in ‘God’ or simply deny religion: both sides display a frustrating lack of engagement with the complexities of the past and human desires and ideas. ”
Signature/Autograph
Profession
Tabish Khair began writing while in college. He served as regional correspondent for the Patna edition of The Times of India. Before Tabish left his hometown, he got his first book of poems, My World, published by Rupa & Co., a large publishing house in Delhi. His debut work was appreciated by senior poets and critics such as Keki N. Daruwalla, Adil Jussawalla, Vilas Sarang and Shiv K. Kumar.
Tabish Kyle
Later, at the age of 25, due to conflicts with some local fundamentalists, he moved to Delhi to work for the Times of India. While in Derry, Kyle published two more collections of stories and began work on his first novel, Angels in Pajamas, which was later published by HarperCollins in 1996. India Today described it as “the calling card of a charismatic writer”. Tabish’s literary work reflects themes of xenophobia, climate change, racism, abuse of power, and science.
Tabish Kyle’s debut novel
After leaving Delhi, he moved to Denmark where he completed his PhD in 2000 and wrote a thesis published as Babu Fiction: Alienation in Indian English Fiction (2001), which discusses India Problems writers face when writing in English. and the reason for not being able to write in Hindi or Urdu. Kyle’s second novel, The Bus Stopped, was published by Picardo Press in 2004. His major books include “About the Mob,” “How to Fight Islamic Terrorism from a Missionary Position,” and “The Bus Stopped.” Khair has co-edited several books and journals, including a casebook of essays on Amitav Ghosh (The Permanent Negro of Delhi) and Other Routes (an anthology of travel writing on Asia and Africa before 1900).
Tabish Kael, “Bodies on the Shore”
His academic papers, reviews and essays have been published in prestigious journals and newspapers. Tabish first read his book Just Another Jihadi Jane in September 2016 at a small but well-informed gathering in Bergen, Norway. In 2022, he published a science fiction novel, The Body by the Shore. He received an honorary scholarship in creative writing from Hong Kong Baptist University, a scholarship from New Delhi University, and an associate scholarship from Churchill College, University of Cambridge, UK. In 2005 he edited the anthology of travel writing by Africans and Asians, Other Routes (2005). His works have been translated into more than 6 languages including French, Spanish, Danish and Portuguese.
Tabish Khair at Calcutta Literary Society 2019
Tabish’s poems and books have been read at many global events, including Jaipur Literary Festival (2017), Tabish Kher at Kolkata Literary Convocation (2019) and Kolkata Kalam Festival (2019 ). He has been writer-in-residence at the University of York, UK, and visiting scholar at the Universities of Cambridge and Leeds. He was a visiting scholar at the University of Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia University and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar, India.
Tabish Khair at Jaipur Literature Festival 2017
Awards and Honors
- His second novel, Bus Stop, was shortlisted for the Encore Award (UK).
- His novel “Thug Matters” was shortlisted for the Mann Asian Literary Award and the DSC South Asian Literary Award.
- In 1995, his poem “Birds of Northern Europe” won the first prize in the 6th Poetry Society of India Poetry Competition.
- In June 2008, his novel The Movie (2007) was shortlisted for the Vodafone Crossword Book Award in India.
- In 2010, his novel “Thug Matters” was shortlisted for the Hindu Award for Best Novel.
- The Danish translation of his novel Cinema: A Love Story (2007) was shortlisted for Denmark’s highest translation/literary award (ALOA Award).
Favorites
- books): Lost Connections by Johann Hari, Change: A Village Biography by Arvind Narayan Dass
- Indian Writer: Khushwant Singh
- Drinks: Sheer Chai, Lassi
Facts/Trivia
- In 2020, Khair participated in a large protest against racism and the Black Lives Matter movement in Aarhus, Denmark.
Tabish Khair at a protest in Aarhus, Denmark
- In 2016, Tabish wrote a poem about his mother for Priya Sarukkai Chabria’s e-journal Poetry at Sangam.
- According to Tabish, he dislikes his literary work being categorized as diasporic, subaltern, and postcolonial themes. He hates being thought of as a “modernizing or Westernizing Muslim” and doesn’t want to be thought of as a “modernizing or Westernizing Muslim.”
- In 2020, Tabish Khair participated in the “Decameron 2020” project initiated by Italian writer Erri De Luca and director Michael Mayer. Different writers from around the world are invited to write a story about their life during lockdown. Tabish Khair wrote “River Of No Return,” read by Indian actress Shabana Azmi.
- He is a big fan of Salman Rushdie’s work and is often seen reading from his work in interviews.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education