Sixty seconds with Ausma Zehanat Khan...
Ausma Zehanat Khan holds a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law with a specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans. She is a former adjunct law professor and was Editor-in-Chief of Muslim Girl magazine, the first magazine targeted to young Muslim women. A British-born Canadian, Khan now lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband.
RTE: Describe yourself in a sentence?
Khan: I’m a writer/activist marked by an overwhelming love of family, history and travel, and one who believes that the clash of civilizations is far from inevitable. The peaceable work of writers can change the world in small ways that matter.
RTE: What's the one record you'd take to a desert island?
Khan: Regatta de Blanc by The Police. Not just for the irony of ‘Message in a Bottle,’ but because it’s a funny, sexy, clever album, and I could listen to ‘Bring on the Night’ forever. I would probably also try to find a bottle and stick a message in it. Since I’m not alone in being alone.
RTE: What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Khan: A writer of musicals with elaborate sets that always involved a Mughal palace built of lattice work. My first attempt was called ‘The Seven Sisters’, and I still have the libretto somewhere. It may be time to let that go, seeing as I can’t actually play any musical instruments.
RTE: Who's your oldest friend?
Khan: My big sister, Ayesha, who rescues me to this day. She knows all my secrets and keeps them close to her heart. She is the most spontaneous, generous and forgiving person I know, which balances out my pragmatism. She’s also the only person I know who could build a palace out of lattice work.
RTE: If I ruled the world...
Khan: There would be no hiding place for war criminals, despots and corporate thieves. They’d all be called to account in my lifetime.
RTE: Which book do you wish you'd written?
Khan: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. She’s a magical writer who made me long to be held hostage in her unforgettable world, a world I wish really existed.
RTE: What makes you angry?
Khan: Politically orchestrated famine in a world with no shortage of food. Standing by helplessly while the population of a nation is bombarded and displaced, as in Syria.
RTE: Name your five dream dinner party guests.
Khan: Nicholas Kristof, Malala Yousufzai, Anthony Bourdain, writer Amin Maalouf, and Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty. The Baburnama is a wonderful autobiography, and I’d love to hear stories about the Ferghana valley, where Babur was born, and the Mughal court he ruled in Delhi.
RTE: Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?
Khan: Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria. I wouldn’t be able to control my outrage. On the other hand, tyrants need to be told the truth about themselves.
RTE: What inspired you to start writing?
Khan: My parents used to recite Persian and Urdu poetry to me from quite a young age, as part of an oral tradition that an entire generation could access from memory. They would organize these beautiful poetry evenings called mushairahs. And then, the importance of learning the Qur’an was impressed upon all the children of my community, so I grew up with an instinctive reverence for the written word, and the sense that writing was something meaningful and important.
RTE: Where would you most like to live?
Khan: Toronto, Canada, within arm’s reach of the people I love. If that isn’t possible, then near Stanford’s bookstore in London. And what a dream it would be to live in a villa on the Bosphorus, looking up at Istanbul’s Blue Mosque.
RTE: Sum up your latest book in no more than 12 words.
Khan: A Canadian Muslim detective and his partner must solve a war criminal’s death.
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