Delving beneath the surface: An interview with Monica Ali

ABSTRACT

Monica Ali is widely recognized as a trailblazer for writers of Bangladeshi origin in English. She published her bestselling debut novel Brick Lane in 2003 and went on to write three more works of fiction: Alentejo Blue (2006), In the Kitchen (2009), and Untold Story (2011). In this interview conducted in autumn 2021, she discusses her recent novel, Love Marriage, which depicts two families from different backgrounds in contemporary Britain: Bengali Indian Muslim and white Christian British. Other topics include Monica Ali’s writing process, why she writes, the experience of her dual heritage, her thoughts on feminism, and her exploration of class and race in today’s multicultural Britain. This was Ali’s first interview after writing Love Marriage, which hit the book stands a few months later in February 2022. The novel has been well reviewed and critically acclaimed and looks set to have the popular appeal of her classic novel, Brick Lane.

KEYWORDS:

• Monica Ali
• Love Marriage
• feminism
• class
• multiracial Britain
• fiction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Naila Kabeer is a British Bangladeshi social economist, research fellow, writer, and professor at the London School of Economics.

2. For further details on the incident, see the following Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Delhi_gang_rape_and_murder.

3. In addition to the BBC documentary (Udwin 2015), Canadian film-maker Richie Mehta (2019) made a seven-part television series, Delhi Crime. It won an Emmy Award in Best Drama Series category in 2020.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sadaf Saaz

Sadaf Saaz is a poet, writer, entrepreneur, molecular biologist, and women’s rights advocate. She was born in the USA, grew up in the UK, and studied at Newnham College, University of Cambridge. She now lives in Dhaka, and is director and producer of Dhaka Lit Fest, which she co-founded in 2011. She runs an arts production company Jatrik, and The Junction, a performance space, and has published the poetry collection Sari Reams (2013). Her monologues based on Bangladeshi women’s stories, Je Kotha Jai Na Bola (That Which Cannot Be Said), have been performed in various locations in Bangladesh. She has read her poetry in Australia, Bangladesh, Germany, India, Pakistan, and the UK, and her work has been published in Weber, Wasafiri, and The Best Asian Poetry 2021. She is currently writing a novel.