Meet the Author: Sairish Hussain
Sairish Hussain is a Bradford based author and Lecturer in Creative Writing. Her debut novel, The Family Tree, was published by HarperCollins and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, the Portico Prize and The Diverse Book Awards. It was also longlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award and winner of Calibre Audio’s ‘Hidden Gem’ Prize.
Sairish was selected by Kei Miller as one of ten ‘unmissable writers working in the UK’ for the International Literature Showcase 2021. She was also one of the finalists in the Women’s Prize & Good Housekeeping Futures Award, an initiative which celebrates the most promising emerging female authors today. Sairish has recently completed her second book, Hidden Fires which was published by HQ in January. You can also find Hidden Fires and The Family Tree on our catalogue.
Who were your influences as you were growing up and did you have books around you as a child or use a library?
Visits to my local library were a highlight of my childhood. It was a 10-minute walk away from my house so my dad would take my sister and I regularly. The first books I remember reading were all the Roald Dahl books, Jacqueline Wilson’s novels, and the R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series. I was also part of the ‘Harry Potter Generation’ who grew up with the characters and queued up outside the shops so I could get my hands on the next one!
When did your interest in writing really develop and how did the Bradford Literature Festival help to set you on the road to publication?
I was always passionate about English Literature and loved reading and writing at school. It was the natural choice for me to continue studying it at university and once I finished my degree, I was granted a scholarship and chose to pursue an MA in Creative Writing. I couldn’t wait to get started with my lifelong dream of writing a novel. This then progressed onto PhD study where I finished working on what became The Family Tree.
In 2017, I attended a publishing panel at the Bradford Literature Festival. A senior figure from HarperCollins, Lisa Milton, was in attendance and I had the opportunity to chat to her at the end of the event. She was very interested in reading my book so I sent it to her the next day. Luckily, I had just finished editing the novel with my supervisor at university so the timing was perfect. I received an email a few weeks later saying that she loved my book and wanted to be my publisher. It’s been a whirlwind ever since!
How do you fit in your writing around your 'regular' life?
I currently teach Creative Writing at Huddersfield University and I’m also a writer-in-residence for the amazing First Story which is a creative writing charity that provides workshops in schools. These roles take up a lot of my time. On my writing days though, I have to wake up and sit at the desk and start writing straightaway - yes, whilst I’m still in a daze and half-asleep! That’s my optimum time to work. If I waste time getting coffee or breakfast, the window will pass.
The Family Tree was your debut novel. It is refreshingly free of the usual themes that are in so much fiction about British Muslims. Were you aware of this as you were writing?
Oh yes, very aware. The Family Tree is my response to all the dehumanising portrayals of Muslims I’ve encountered in literature. I decided to write a story that reflected my life and the people that I grew up around. That brown, Muslim, working-class northerners can also encompass the breadth of human experience, and we should see this reflected more in our books.
Can you tell us a little about your new book Hidden Fires and what it was like to write?
I’d say that first and foremost, Hidden Fires is an ‘unlikely friendship’ story between a grandfather and his granddaughter. Their strained relationship changes when Rubi realises that her grandpa is grappling with a terrible secret that he has kept for 70 years, since the dark days of the Partition of India.
Surprisingly, this second book was much more difficult to write! I think with the first novel, it was something I felt like I had to do, even if no one was ever going to read it. Also, the fact that I had to write another book because I’d signed a contract, and come up with a good idea, was also quite stressful. I wrote Hidden Fires alongside so much chaos. To start with, I was busier. I was promoting The Family Tree and working two part time jobs so I had to fit writing in wherever I could. I also realised very quickly that just because I’d done it the once didn’t mean that writing another novel would be any easier. At times it felt I was doing it for the first time! However, managing to write just one good sentence was enough to make me want to keep going, despite all the challenges.
The bond between Rubi and grandfather Yusuf is at the heart of Hidden Fires. How do you go about getting into the head space of an 80 year old or a 16 year old girl? What is your starting point?
I love writing characters who are as different to me as possible, and that’s something I discovered when working on The Family Tree. The same thing happened with my second novel. I absolutely loved writing through Yusuf’s perspective, an 80-year-old man, over Rubi’s, a 16-year-old girl.
I think I’ve always been drawn to older characters because of their life experience and wisdom. Surprisingly, I even find it easier to write from a male point of view. I think when a character is too similar to me, I struggle, as I don’t want to sound like myself on the page. I prefer to lose myself in a completely different persona.
What's next for you?
I think 2024 will be busy with all things Hidden Fires. I think writing-wise I need to give myself some time to fall in love with a great idea again. Hopefully it will come to me soon!
We are always looking for good book recommendations. Aside from your own work what have you read recently that you really enjoyed?
Three amazing books I read over summer were Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (late to the party with this one but so worth the wait!), Maame by Jessica George and The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka.
The best advice you were ever given?
That writing should be a liberating experience and you shouldn’t feel as though you have to write about a certain subject in a certain way. The choice is yours to be as experimental and as bold as you want to be.