Award-winning author focuses on new novel

June 2007

Celebrated author, alumnus Mr Adib Khan (MA 1976) has returned to Monash University to complete a PhD on creative writing. His work focuses on a 65,000-word novel - Song of Jackals – about the effect of globalisation on a rural community in a developing nation.

Originally from Bangladesh, Mr Khan came to Melbourne after experiencing difficulty completing his university studies in his home country. The early 1970s saw the Bangladesh Liberation War affect educational institutions, with universities in Dhaka having to close for lengthy periods of time.

Determined to continue his studies, Mr Khan travelled to Australia and settled at Monash University upon advice from his Canberra-based cousin.

“I found Australia to be a relaxed and friendly place and the people I met were overwhelmingly kind and generous. The pace of life at Monash was distinctly different and far less hectic. It was a smaller university in terms of its student population,” Mr Khan said.

Mr Khan has now published five novels, his latest being Spiral Road. His first two novels, Seasonal Adjustments (1994) and Solitude of Illusions (1997) won several book awards and writers prizes. His themes include identity and the search for self, the migrant experience and, most recently, terrorism.

Currently, Mr Khan spends half his week in Melbourne, working on his PhD, and the remainder of the week in Ballarat where he lives with his wife and teaches creative writing at Ballarat University.

At the moment, there is nothing else he dreams of doing with his life.

“Writing fiction will be at the centre of my working life, as long as I can remain creative. I have the ideas for at least three or four more novels.”

In offering advice to aspiring authors, Mr Khan says: “Don’t give up your regular job, if you have one. Don’t ever lose your sense of humour. Develop the hide of a rhinoceros and then steel-plate it, and be prepared for long hours of very hard work. And no excuses about not having the time to write! If you are desperate to write, and there is a story in you, it will get written. Whether it is published is another matter.”

As a student with the University’s School of English, Communications and Performance Studies, Mr Khan will feature at the upcoming Monash Arts in Action festival in a session called “Home is where...World Writing in English”.

Links:

Arts in Action website and program