S6 Ep. 3: Pakistan Under Water: Aamina Ahmad on Disaster and Despair After the Historic Floods

fiction/non/fiction

Novelist Aamina Ahmad joins Fiction/Non/Fiction hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss the situation in Pakistan as the country tries to contend with the aftermath of historic floods that have displaced 35 million people. Ahmad, whose debut novel The Return of Faraz Ali is set in Pakistan, talks about her own connection to the country; the scale of what has occurred and its connection to climate change; and how a long history of political instability, militarization, and economic hardship have affected the country’s most vulnerable. She also reflects on writing about corruption, and reads from her acclaimed debut.

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This podcast is produced by Anne Kniggendorf.

Selected Readings:

Aamina Ahmad

• The Return of Faraz Ali

Others:

• Review: ‘The Return of Faraz Ali,’ by Aamina Ahmad - The New York Times
• Pakistan's IMF loan shows few signs of stopping economic slide - Nikkei Asia
• Pakistan’s Biblical Floods and the Case for Climate Reparations: Isn’t it time for rich nations to pay the communities that they have helped to drown? By Mohammed Hanif, The New Yorker
• Imran lashes out at 'facilitators of conspiracy’ at Karachi rally
• Imran Khan: Pakistan police charge ex-PM under terrorism act - BBC News
• A history of U.S. interference worsened Pakistan’s devastating floods - The Washington Post by Maira Hayat
• First came the floods. Now, Pakistan's children face a new disaster
• GoFundMe: Medical Camp for Pakistan Flood Victims
• Alia Haider on Twitter
• Sri Lanka’s IMF Saga – The Diplomat
• Sri Lanka holds rates as crisis-hit economy banks on govt reforms, IMF bailout | Reuters
• Poetry, Prose, and the Climate Crisis: John Freeman and Tahmima Anam on Public Space and Global Inequality (Season 3, Episode 17)

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