Soniah Kamal
Soniah Kamal is an award winning novelist, essayist and public speaker. Her most recent novel, Unmarriageable: Pride & Prejudice in Pakistan, is a Financial Times Readers’ Best Book of 2019, a 2019 ‘Books All Georgians Should Read,’ a 2020 Georgia Author of the Year for Literary Fiction nominee, is shortlisted for the 2020 Townsend Award for Fiction, is a New York Public Library, a NPR Code Switch 2019 Summer Read Pick and People’s Magazine pick. Her debut novel, An Isolated Incident, was a finalist for the Townsend Award for Fiction and the KLF French Fiction Prize. Soniah’s TEDx talk is about second chances and ‘We are the Ink’, her address at a U.S. Citizenship Oath Ceremony, talks about immigrants and the real American Dreams. Soniah’s work has appeared in critically acclaimed anthologies and publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Buzzfeed and more. Soniah grew up in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and England and resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jane Austen Bio: Soniah is a life time member of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA). She is a Featured Plenary Panelist at 2020 JASNA AGM. Soniah is the 2020 Keynote Speaker at the Jane Austen Festival held by JASNA Louisville Kentucky. Soniah hosted the year long Jane Austen 200th Anniversary Commemoration Book Club for all six Austen novels and wrote about it in Pride and Possibilities. She was Chief Guest at the 2019 JASNA Northern California Jane Austen Birthday Gala and delivered the Jane Austen Birthday Toast. Soniah has served as a Jane Austen Literacy Ambassador for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation. Austenprose declared Unmarriageable ‘a dream retelling’ and the Jane Austen Center called it ‘a wonderful experience’. Guggenheim awardee Professor Devoney Looser of The Making of Jane Austen says Unmarriageable is a ‘a brilliant fictional homage to Pride and Prejudice’. While Soniah adores Pride and Prejudice, her favorite Austen novel is Mansfield Park. Onscreen she loves the 1995 BBC ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Emma Thomson’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’, Whit Stillman’s ‘Love and Friendship’ adapted from Lady Susan, and ITV’s time travelling ‘Lost in Austen’.
Soniah’s short story “Fossils”, judged by Claudia Rankine, won the Agnes Scott 2017 Festival Award for Fiction and her story ‘Jelly Beans’ was selected for The Best Asian Stories Series 2017. Her essay ‘The Fall: How to Survive Your Father’s Imprisonment’ was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her short stories and essays have been shortlisted for awards including the Sequestrum Editor’s Reprint Award and the Payton James Freeman Prize and are recommended reads by VELA and Longreads. Soniah is the recipient of the Susan B. Irene Award from St. Johns College where she graduated with a BA Honors in Liberal Arts. She was awarded a Paul Bowles Fiction Fellowship from Georgia State University where she earned an MFA in Creative Writing. Soniah is a member of the National Books Critics Circle and PEN America and the Jane Austen Society of North America.
Soniah has taught creative writing and global literature at Emory University, Oglethorpe University and is faculty at Reinhardt University. She has served as Writer-in-Residence for the Fulton County Library System and is a repeat mentor for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs.
Jane Austen Bio: Soniah is a life time member of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA). She is a Featured Plenary Panelist at 2020 JASNA AGM. Soniah is the 2020 Keynote Speaker at the Jane Austen Festival held by JASNA Louisville Kentucky. Soniah hosted the year long Jane Austen 200th Anniversary Commemoration Book Club for all six Austen novels and wrote about it in Pride and Possibilities. She was Chief Guest at the 2019 JASNA Northern California Jane Austen Birthday Gala and delivered the Jane Austen Birthday Toast. Soniah has served as a Jane Austen Literacy Ambassador for the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation. Austenprose declared Unmarriageable ‘a dream retelling’ and the Jane Austen Center called it ‘a wonderful experience’. Guggenheim awardee Professor Devoney Looser of The Making of Jane Austen says Unmarriageable is a ‘a brilliant fictional homage to Pride and Prejudice’. While Soniah adores Pride and Prejudice, her favorite Austen novel is Mansfield Park. Onscreen she loves the 1995 BBC ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Emma Thomson’s ‘Sense and Sensibility’, Whit Stillman’s ‘Love and Friendship’ adapted from Lady Susan, and ITV’s time travelling ‘Lost in Austen’.
Soniah’s short story “Fossils”, judged by Claudia Rankine, won the Agnes Scott 2017 Festival Award for Fiction and her story ‘Jelly Beans’ was selected for The Best Asian Stories Series 2017. Her essay ‘The Fall: How to Survive Your Father’s Imprisonment’ was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her short stories and essays have been shortlisted for awards including the Sequestrum Editor’s Reprint Award and the Payton James Freeman Prize and are recommended reads by VELA and Longreads. Soniah is the recipient of the Susan B. Irene Award from St. Johns College where she graduated with a BA Honors in Liberal Arts. She was awarded a Paul Bowles Fiction Fellowship from Georgia State University where she earned an MFA in Creative Writing. Soniah is a member of the National Books Critics Circle and PEN America and the Jane Austen Society of North America.
Soniah has taught creative writing and global literature at Emory University, Oglethorpe University and is faculty at Reinhardt University. She has served as Writer-in-Residence for the Fulton County Library System and is a repeat mentor for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs.
