Shi Naseer: ‘I am determined to connect people everywhere by telling readable stories that are rooted in cultural nuances’
BY Katie Smart
3rd Aug 2023
In 2021, Shi Naseer was awarded free mentoring as part of our Breakthrough Writers’ Programme for under-represented writers – she worked with her mentor, acclaimed author Nikita Lalwani, for nine months. Now she has a book deal with Allen & Unwin for her debut novel The Cry of the Silkworm, a coming-of-age narrative that explores China's one-child policy.
We spoke to Shi about her time as a Breakthrough mentee, the inspiration behind her debut, what she's been reading recently and her advice for budding writers.
You were awarded a place on our nine-month Breakthrough Mentoring Programme in 2021. How did your time as Breakthrough mentee impact your writing?
I found representation immediately after CBC’s programme, so it divided my writing career into before and after! I’m super grateful.
What advice from your mentor Nikita Lalwani has stuck with you?
I was lucky enough to receive Nikita’s comments on both my forthcoming book set in China and a new novel-in-progress set in Pakistan. She is an incredible literary writer, but interestingly, our conversations solidified my decision to write for more casual readers like my family, who never had the opportunity to be trained to read literary fiction. Specifically, Nikita helped me find the balance between interiority and action for the kind of book-club fiction I aim to write.
Your debut novel The Cry of the Silkworm will be published by Allen & Unwin in June 2024. The novel is a coming-of-age tale that explores China’s one-child policy – the narrative follows Chen Di, a young girl growing up in rural China in the 90s. Can you tell us a bit more about your debut and the inspiration behind it?
The novel has two timelines: Chen Di’s childhood in a village where she witnesses the horrors of the policy’s strict enforcement, and Chen Di’s present in Shanghai where she seeks revenge on a government official for the death of her mother. I was living in China during both periods, so a lot of it comes from my own life, what it means for a girl to grow up under the one-child policy. Even today, in China, sons are often favoured over daughters. My father used to call me ‘son’ and tell my mother they’d raise me as if they were raising a son – as if it was a compliment! After my birth, my mother was forced to be fitted with an IUD even though she longed for more children. And it broke my heart watching my teenage cousin pass away from a brain tumour, leaving my aunt and uncle childless. This book is dedicated to shidu parents – parents who have lost their only children.
You also have a master’s in mathematics from Cambridge University and PhD in black hole physics from Harvard University. Has your experience in science influenced your fiction in any way?
All my characters are physicists! Just kidding. Writing was not my childhood dream but something I stumbled upon just a few years ago, in my late twenties. But my decade spent studying and doing research in science wasn’t wasted. I believe there are two equally important parts to writing a novel: the creative part for producing first drafts and the analytical part for rewriting and editing. My training in mathematics and physics translated into the analytical skills needed in the latter, be it restructuring the whole narrative or tackling a paragraph-level problem.
What novels have you enjoyed reading recently?
I just again reread A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, probably my favourite book of all time. In general, I love escaping into Haruki Murakami’s world. I also want to recommend Graceland, a new, heart-warming novel by Nancy Crochiere, the first published member of my writing group. Finally, for pure fun, I enjoy the thrillers by Freida McFadden, who’s also a friend.
Do you have any advice for the aspiring authors reading this – particularly those thinking of applying to a scheme like our Breakthrough Writers’ Programme?
Please apply! The existence of these programmes is such a privilege. In my family in Pakistan, my nieces and nephews educated in Urdu-medium schools have no access to any such opportunities. The whole of South Asia is geared towards wealthier English-educated families – a sad legacy of colonisation. And in China, I lived in a tiny apartment sharing one toilet with our neighbours throughout my childhood and spoke little English until my teens. My father still doesn’t read English books, and my mother doesn’t read at all. If you get into such writing programmes in the West, remember to work your butt off (excuse my language). To use a Chinese proverb, it is a privilege that those from my background have to go up mountains of knives and down seas of fires to attain.
Finally, what’s next for your writing journey?
Nikita read the opening chapters of my new novel-in-progress when I barely started drafting it, and her support gave me the confidence to keep going. Now I am joined on the project by my sister-in-law, Sidra Naseer, and we have a full draft. Based on our family’s true story, it is about a Pakistani woman who lures an American woman to Pakistan in order to punish the American for having stolen her husband. I’m also thinking of a third novel built upon my deportation experience while pregnant in Sweden. All my story ideas carry the theme of vengeance, my protagonists being mistreated groups of people around the world who are pushed to their limits. Fluent in seven languages and having lived in nine countries, I am determined to connect people everywhere by telling readable stories that are rooted in cultural nuances. I see my role as both writer and translator.
Get your copy of The Cry of the Silkworm.
Find out more about the opportunities currently available as part of our Breakthrough Writers’ Programme.
The books linked in this blog can be found on our Bookshop.org shop front. Curtis Brown Creative receive 10% whenever someone buys from our bookshop.org page.