{"id":3121,"date":"2013-10-08T12:30:29","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T11:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121"},"modified":"2016-02-05T19:41:45","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T18:41:45","slug":"moniza-alvi-nadeem-aslam-literature-live-at-the-manchester-literature-festival-reviewed-by-lola-albarn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121","title":{"rendered":"Moniza Alvi &#038; Nadeem Aslam, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Lola Albarn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Lola Albarn<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Literature Live<\/em>-Moniza Alvi and Nadeem Aslam, Oct 7th 2013<\/p>\n<p>Moniza Alvi and Nadeem Aslam each read a selection of their work at the Martin Harris Centre on the 7th of October 2013; despite both being incredible writers, who have drawn upon their Pakistani heritage to inspire and shape their work, for me, Nadeem and Moniza are worlds apart as writers.<br \/>\n Moniza Alvi read a selection of poems, which delved into a wide range of topics, from fantasising about what her life could have been like in Pakistan, to the brutal rape of a mermaid in the name of \u2018human love\u2019; each poem left the audience with a different sensation, with a new perspective on matters such as heritage and death; Moniza\u2019s cheery disposition only worked to emphasise the deep emotions pouring from each poem, through the stark contrast between the writer and the subject.<br \/>\n Nadeem Aslam read a small section from his latest book \u2018The Blind Man\u2019s Garden\u2019 focusing on how the first, one page chapter had slowly made its way from 3\/4 of the way into the book, to the front, as Nadeem realised that the progression from the broad subject of \u2018History\u2019 at the very start of the section, to the intimate, more minute subject of a father and son\u2019s love, summed up some of the key themes in the book. The section of the novel was too short to give a clear and in depth example of the intricate and beautiful style of writing that is found in Nadeem\u2019s work; however it was enough to intrigue the audience and create a desire to read on.<br \/>\n It wasn\u2019t until the Question and Answer session at the end, that the differences between the two writers and their chosen styles became more apparent. One audience member stated that both writers focus on their identities; Moniza believed that when she did write about identity, it was to make her feel comfortable in her own skin and focus on making the idea of identity more fluid; Nadeem stated that his identity was whoever he was with, his social environment shaped his identity. However one similarity that did become very clear, was that both Moniza and Nadeem focused on political, world matters in their literature, although again through different methods; Moniza explained that in poetry, you couldn\u2019t approach subjects as head on, as you can in literature, therefore side paths have to be made.<br \/>\n The audience was able to gain a unique understanding on how both Moniza and Nadeem set about composing their work, drawing upon travels across the world, family stories, such as Moniza\u2019s family tale of partition and even hands-on research, such as Nadeem taping his eyes for three weeks, to experience first-hand what it might feel like to be blind, which turned out to be an incredibly interesting experiences as he learnt that the colour red was associated with touching something hot while he saw stars when he stretched his hand out into the rain.<br \/>\n Overall the event was a delightfully entertaining and intriguing introduction to both writers, showcasing their undeniable talent, despite the short amount of time given to their work during the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lola Albarn Literature Live-Moniza Alvi and Nadeem Aslam, Oct 7th 2013 Moniza Alvi and Nadeem Aslam each read a selection of their work at the Martin Harris Centre on the 7th of October 2013; despite both being incredible writers, who have drawn upon their Pakistani heritage to inspire and shape their work, for me, Nadeem [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[16,283],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.2.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Moniza Alvi &amp; Nadeem Aslam, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Lola Albarn - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moniza Alvi &amp; Nadeem Aslam, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Lola Albarn - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lola Albarn Literature Live-Moniza Alvi and Nadeem Aslam, Oct 7th 2013 Moniza Alvi and Nadeem Aslam each read a selection of their work at the Martin Harris Centre on the 7th of October 2013; despite both being incredible writers, who have drawn upon their Pakistani heritage to inspire and shape their work, for me, Nadeem [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-08T11:30:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-05T18:41:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121\",\"name\":\"Moniza Alvi & Nadeem Aslam, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Lola Albarn - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-08T11:30:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-05T18:41:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/e6deb0374609919f6e86f6ee1defe8cc\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Moniza Alvi &#038; Nadeem Aslam, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Lola Albarn\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/e6deb0374609919f6e86f6ee1defe8cc\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"The Manchester Review\"},\"description\":\"The Manchester Review was founded in 2008 and is published by the Centre for New Writing at The University of Manchester. We aspire to bring together online, without a paper edition, the best of international writing from well-known, established writers alongside new, relatively unknown poets and prose-writers.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=45\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Moniza Alvi & Nadeem Aslam, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Lola Albarn - The Manchester Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Moniza Alvi & Nadeem Aslam, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Lola Albarn - The Manchester Review","og_description":"Lola Albarn Literature Live-Moniza Alvi and Nadeem Aslam, Oct 7th 2013 Moniza Alvi and Nadeem Aslam each read a selection of their work at the Martin Harris Centre on the 7th of October 2013; despite both being incredible writers, who have drawn upon their Pakistani heritage to inspire and shape their work, for me, Nadeem [&hellip;]","og_url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121","og_site_name":"The Manchester Review","article_published_time":"2013-10-08T11:30:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-02-05T18:41:45+00:00","author":"The Manchester Review","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Manchester Review","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121","name":"Moniza Alvi & Nadeem Aslam, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Lola Albarn - The Manchester Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-10-08T11:30:29+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-05T18:41:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/e6deb0374609919f6e86f6ee1defe8cc"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=3121#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Moniza Alvi &#038; Nadeem Aslam, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Lola Albarn"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/","name":"The Manchester Review","description":"The Manchester Review","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/e6deb0374609919f6e86f6ee1defe8cc","name":"The Manchester Review","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","caption":"The Manchester Review"},"description":"The Manchester Review was founded in 2008 and is published by the Centre for New Writing at The University of Manchester. We aspire to bring together online, without a paper edition, the best of international writing from well-known, established writers alongside new, relatively unknown poets and prose-writers.","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=45"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2PuXo-Ol","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3121"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6014,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3121\/revisions\/6014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}