Noreen Masud is a British writer and literary scholar.

Noreen Masud
Born
Pakistan
NationalityBritish
EmployerUniversity of Bristol
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
ThesisAphorism in Stevie Smith (2017)
Academic advisorsSally Bayley & Laura Marcus[1]
Academic work
Notable worksA Flat Place: Moving Through Empty Landscapes, Naming Complex Trauma (2023)
Websitewww.noreenmasud.com

Masud is a lecturer at the University of Bristol.[2] Her work has been published in The Times Literary Supplement[3] and Salon.[4] Her monograph Stevie Smith and the Aphorism: Hard Language (2022) won The Modernist Studies Association's First Book Prize.[5]

She has been on BBC Radio 4's In Our Time.[6]

Her memoir A Flat Place: Moving Through Empty Landscapes, Naming Complex Trauma (2023) describes her childhood in Pakistan, moving to Scotland aged 15, and the complex post-traumatic stress disorder from which she suffers.[7][8] A Flat Place was shortlisted for the 2023 Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award,[9] and was a Book of the Year in The New Yorker, The Guardian and theSunday Times.[10] In 2024, it was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction.[11]

Early life

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Masud was born to a British mother and a Pakistani father in Lahore, Pakistan. Her paternal ancestral roots are in Shopian, Kashmir, whilst her mother is Scottish and English.[12] As a teenager, Masud moved to Britain with her mother and siblings.[13]

Works

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  • Stevie Smith and the Aphorism: Hard Language. Oxford English Monographs. OUP Oxford. 2022. ISBN 978-0-19-264924-9.
  • A Flat Place: Moving Through Empty Landscapes, Naming Complex Trauma. Melville House. 2023. ISBN 978-1-68589-024-7.[14]

References

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  1. ^ "Aphorism in Stevie Smith". Oxford University Research Archive. University of Oxford. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Noreen Masud". University of Bristol. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  3. ^ "Noreen Masud Archives". TLS. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  4. ^ "Noreen Masud's Articles at Salon.com". www.salon.com. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  5. ^ "Noreen Masud wins MSA First Book Prize" (Press release). University of Bristol. 31 October 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  6. ^ "Stevie Smith". In Our Time. BBC Radio 4. 16 February 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  7. ^ "From Lahore to Orford Ness, Searching for the Roots of Trauma". The New York Times. 6 June 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  8. ^ Brooks-Ward, Issy (9 May 2023). "Noreen Masud: A Flat Place - reflective landscapes. Reimagining the feeling of flatness, Masud walks us through her pursuit of a past". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  9. ^ "Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award 2023 shortlist announced". Books+Publishing. 27 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  10. ^ "Noreen Masud". RCW Literary Agency. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  11. ^ Lipscomb, Suzannah (27 March 2024). "Electric, poignant, exquisitely written: inside the inaugural Women's prize for nonfiction shortlist". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  12. ^ Silvers, Isabella (22 April 2024). "Noreen Masud: "Whether or not language contains me, I still exist"". Mixed Messages. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  13. ^ Goh, Katie (10 May 2023). "Finding solace from trauma in flat landscapes". Prospect. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  14. ^ Masud, Noreen. "A Flat Place". Granta.com. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
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