A Journey THROUGH LANGUAGE AND IDENTITY
Explore how a mysterious language school transforms the life of a Pakistani translator in London as Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi’s debut novel captivates with its blend of suspense, satire, and deep thematic exploration
Every year Pakistan and the UAE hold literary events where many new authors bring their work to the public. The growing literary interest and the many literary events in UAE, provide great inspiration for young writers.
Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi’s debut novel, ‘The Centre’, is about a Pakistani translator called Anisa who lives in London and longs to be a translator of ‘great works of literature’. When Anisa discovers ‘The Centre’, a mysterious and exclusive language school that promises complete fluency in any language in just ten days, she thinks this just might be her ticket, only to uncover the secret and sinister ways in which the institution operates.
‘The Centre’ is an engaging and thoughtful read, which manages to be both a propulsive page-turner while also exploring deeper themes around identity, language, and the meaning of success. It has been received with wide-spread critical acclaim; The New York Times called it ‘ingenious’ and The Guardian described it as ‘a smart satirical story that raises timely questions about privilege and appropriation’. Writer Gillian Flynn described the book as ‘thrilling and unique’.
While writing the book, Siddiqi was working as a contributing editor for the podcast ‘The Trojan Horse Affair’ by Serial Productions. She has also published reviews, essays, short stories, and poetry, and has written for the stage and radio.
The inspiration behind ‘The Centre’ is about a translator stumbling across a miraculous-seeming language school, only to discover things are not what they seem. The story goes through various twists and turns before we learn what is going on. The author growing up in several countries in her childhood, in a multilingual context was inspired and had a keen interest in languages. The act of learning a new language can feel like solving a puzzle, and the act of translation can be engrossing, simultaneously mathematical intuitive and creative.
Since the writer is Pakistani herself, so it was natural for the main character to be Pakistani too. Writing about what you know allows for depth, a specificity, which can only add to your story.
Generally, people are born with creative ability and feel automatically drawn to either telling stories, painting pictures, singing songs, etc., their imagination runs wild and create masterpieces, however, if there is no one around to foster this talent over the years it ceases to exists or becomes a backbencher Ayesha mentions that she was blessed in this regard from siblings to cousins to teachers and friends helped her developed the skill.
‘The Centre’ is a book for adults, ages 18 and above. It is published by Picador Books in the UK and Zando in the US. It is widely available in bookshops and online.