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Kia Abdullah

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Kia Abdullah
Author Kia Abdullah
Abdullah in 2019
Born (1982-05-17) 17 May 1982 (age 42)
London, England
OccupationNovelist, writer
LanguageEnglish
Alma materQueen Mary University of London (BSc)
GenreFiction, crime, thriller
Years active2006–present
Notable worksTake It Back
Website
kiaabdullah.com

Kia Abdullah (born 17 May 1982) is a British novelist and travel writer. She is the best-selling author of courtroom dramas Take It Back (HarperCollins, 2019),[1][2] Truth Be Told (HarperCollins, 2020),[3] Next of Kin (HarperCollins, 2021)[4] and Those People Next Door (HarperCollins, 2023).[5] She has written for The New York Times,[6] The Guardian,[7] The Times,[8] The Financial Times,[9] The Telegraph[10] and the BBC,[11] among other publications.[12][13][14][15]

Background

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Abdullah is of Bangladeshi descent and was born and brought up in the London borough of Tower Hamlets in a family of eight children.[16] Of her childhood, Abdullah has said: "[People] imagine poverty and misery, hardship and hand-me-downs. Of course I forfeited my fair share of material pleasures but a household of noise and colour is far better than possessions and privilege."[17]

Education

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Abdullah was educated in England, with secondary schooling at the Central Foundation Girls' School. She graduated from Queen Mary, University of London with a first class in BSc Computer Science.[18] Her final year thesis was titled A Program Slicing Tool for Analysing Java Programs.[19] Abdullah has an IQ of 150.[20] She was a member of Mensa International – a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile of IQ – but left within a year of joining.

Career

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Abdullah graduated in 2003, after which she worked in tech for three years. In 2007, she quit her job in tech to pursue a career as a writer, taking a 50% pay cut in the process.[21]

From 2008 to 2010, Abdullah wrote about a range of topics, from politics to relationships, for The Guardian.[7] She also worked as Features Editor at Asian Woman magazine, during which time she interviewed a range of prominent Asian actors and musicians including Riz Ahmed, Meera Syal, Nitin Sawhney, Jay Sean and Anoushka Shankar.

Abdullah was an occasional guest on BBC Asian Network's DJ Nihal show and spoke about a range of subjects, from drug abuse and gender inequality to dealing with culture and identity as a British-Asian writer.[22][23][24][25] In 2009, she was nominated for a Muslim Writers Award.[26] In 2011, she was involved in a Twitter controversy after commenting on the deaths of three British tourists.[27]

In 2012, Abdullah joined global publisher Penguin Random House where she worked on travel brand Rough Guides. In 2014, Abdullah quit her job to found Atlas & Boots, an outdoor travel blog read by 150,000 people a month.[28] Abdullah has contributed to Lonely Planet[29] and Rough Guides[30] and has spoken about her travels on television, radio, print and online.[31][32][33][34]

In 2019, Abdullah's mainstream debut crime novel, Take It Back, was published by HarperCollins. It was chosen by The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Sunday Times newspapers as one of the best new crime and thriller novels.[35][36][37]

In 2020, Abdullah's second novel, Truth Be Told, was published by HarperCollins[38] and consequently short-listed for a Diverse Book Award.[39] In July that year, Abdullah founded Asian Booklist, a website to help readers discover new books by British-Asian authors.[40]

In 2021, Abdullah's third novel, Next of Kin, was published by HarperCollins. It was named The Times Book of the Month,[41] was long-listed for the CWA Gold Dagger[42] and won the Diverse Book Award for Adult Fiction.[43]

In 2023, Abdullah's fourth novel, Those People Next Door, was published by HarperCollins.[44] It was the Times Book of the Month,[45] a Guardian best new thriller,[46] the Waterstones Thriller of the Month[47] and a Times Bestseller, spending five weeks in the chart.[48]

Personal life

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Abdullah was born and brought up as Muslim. In 2020, she stated that she identifies as an agnostic and a cultural Muslim.[38]

Abdullah speaks three languages: English, Sylheti and Spanish.[49][50]

Bibliography

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Novels

  • 2019: Take It Back
  • 2020: Truth Be Told
  • 2021: Next of Kin
  • 2023: Those People Next Door

References

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  1. ^ Take It Back. ASIN 0008314675.
  2. ^ "Author to donate profits of pre-orders of her novel to food bank". The Northern Echo. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  3. ^ Truth Be Told on Amazon. ASIN 0008314721.
  4. ^ Abdullah, Kia (2 September 2021). Next of Kin: the brand new gripping and shocking legal thriller that you won't want to miss in 2021!. ASIN 0008433631.
  5. ^ Abdullah, Kia (19 January 2023). Those People Next Door: a twisty and page-turning courtroom drama and suspenseful legal thriller to keep you up at night in 2023!. HQ. ISBN 978-0-00-843368-0.
  6. ^ Abdullah, Kia (15 September 2017). "Childless in a Houseful of Children". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Kia Abdullah". the Guardian. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  8. ^ Dowle, Jayne. "Moving to the big city: For some buyers, living in the countryside isn't all it's cracked up to be". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Fantasy home: an escape to nature inspired by Anne of Green Gables". propertylistings.ft.com. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  10. ^ "Why I agreed to marry a man I'd met only once". The Telegraph. 16 August 2019.
  11. ^ "CBBC - Snaps, Series 1, Listen, Dad". BBC. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  12. ^ "It is possible to be a secular Muslim". inews.co.uk. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Finding Freedom in Writing a Language My Parents Can't Read". Literary Hub. 1 May 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  14. ^ "What I needed as a working-class writer | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  15. ^ "Crime by Committee: 8 Novels Featuring Group Misdeeds". CrimeReads. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  16. ^ "About | Kia Abdullah". Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  17. ^ "The Bengali East End: Histories of life and work in Tower Hamlets" (PDF). Idea Store. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 May 2021.
  18. ^ "Alumni profile - Kia Abdullah". QMUL. 22 May 2020.
  19. ^ "A Program Slicing Tool for Analysing Java Programs" (PDF). Kia Abdullah. 28 April 2003.
  20. ^ "Is joining Mensa a smart move?". The Guardian. 31 May 2010. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  21. ^ "Alumni profile - Kia Abdullah - Queen Mary University of London". www.qmul.ac.uk. 22 May 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  22. ^ "British Bangladeshis battle against drugs". BBC News. 7 August 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  23. ^ "Kia Abdullah". IMDb. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  24. ^ "Writing Wrongs" (PDF). Asiana magazine. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2016.
  25. ^ "Kia Abdullah on writing Child's Play – The Asian Writer". theasianwriter.co.uk. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  26. ^ "Museum of Awards – 2009 | Young Muslim Writers Awards". ymwa.org.uk. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  27. ^ "Writer Kia Abdullah mocks death of gap year students on Twitter". The Telegraph. July 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  28. ^ "Kia Abdullah – Author, travel writer, seven of nine". Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  29. ^ Planet, Lonely (2 March 2016). "Best places to travel in June 2016 - Lonely Planet". Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  30. ^ "Travel Features by Kia | Rough Guides". Archived from the original on 2 September 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  31. ^ Atlas & Boots (22 January 2016), Atlas and Boots interview on London Live, archived from the original on 19 December 2021, retrieved 12 August 2016
  32. ^ Graeme Kemlo Speaks To Adventure Travellers Kia Abdullah And Peter Watson, retrieved 12 August 2016
  33. ^ "Get Lost magazine" (PDF).
  34. ^ "Peter & Kia | Hero and Leander". 2 December 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  35. ^ Wilson, Laura (23 August 2019). "The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup". The Guardian.
  36. ^ Kerridge, Jake (6 September 2019). "The 26 best thrillers and crime novels of 2019 so far". The Telegraph.
  37. ^ Dugdale, John (8 September 2019). "The best new thrillers". The Sunday Times.
  38. ^ a b "It is possible to be a secular Muslim". inews.co.uk. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  39. ^ "Makumbi, Wheatle and Adeola shortlisted for Diverse Book Awards". The Bookseller. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  40. ^ "Asian Booklist: my response to the exhausting diversity debate | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  41. ^ Owen, James. "The best new thrillers for September 2021 — is Robert Peston's debut worth reading?". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  42. ^ "Hawkins, Billingham, Hallett and Banville on CWA Dagger longlists". The Bookseller. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  43. ^ "Dean, Bowen and Abdullah crowned winners at Diverse Book Awards". The Bookseller. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
  44. ^ Those People Next Door. ASIN 0008433682.
  45. ^ Owen, James (10 September 2023). "The best new thrillers for January 2023 — wartime spies in the Vatican and more". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  46. ^ Wilson, Laura (20 January 2023). "The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  47. ^ @Waterstones (1 August 2023). "You can choose your house, but you can't choose your neighbours... Our Thriller of the Month is @KiaAbdullah's unputdownable story of nightmare neighbours and the violence that lurks behind the hedgerows of suburbia, find it here: https://bit.ly/3KnJS8t #BOTM" (Tweet). Retrieved 10 September 2023 – via Twitter.
  48. ^ @KiaAbdullah (9 September 2023). "Five weeks in @thetimes bestsellers chart. Thank you to everyone who has bought, borrowed, read, reviewed or shared #ThosePeopleNextDoor. I am so, so grateful. 🙏🏽" (Tweet). Retrieved 10 September 2023 – via Twitter.
  49. ^ "When my mother said she was lonely, I knew I had to relearn my Bengali language | Kia Abdullah". the Guardian. 21 December 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  50. ^ Our readers asked for a sample of Kia's Spanish and she was good enough to oblige. | By Atlas & Boots | Facebook, retrieved 23 August 2022
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