Mahvesh Murad
Mahvesh Murad is an anthology editor who hails from Karachi in Pakistan, where she has lived her entire life.
On their website, they note that they are available to work as a developmental editor and specialise in science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction; however, they are also available to work in English fiction of any length. They are well-versed in other genres, such as crime, thriller and horror, and primarily focus on editing fiction.
They have co-edited numerous anthologies. The first anthology Mahvesh was involved with that she actually contributed to was
Speculative Fiction 2013, which was edited by Thea James and Ana Grilo.
The first anthology Mahvesh edited was
The Apex Book of World SF: Volume 4. This was their debut in the editing world and a very respectable first outing, with this series of anthologies being considered the benchmark in international speculative fiction.
This anthology had a wide variety of topics, from subverted Japanese folktales to stories about romance in the era of drones. Mahvesh opened the anthology by discussing how the word "diversity" is a complex concept and that despite the variety of story topics, this wasn't an anthology about diversity - it was a book that simply featured great stories from all over the world, written by writers who may not fit into the mainstream Western status quo.
In 2017, Mahvesh edited
The Djinn Falls In Love alongside Jared Shurin. Featuring a variety of authors, from breakthrough international authors to award-winners, this anthology ended up being nominated at the World Fantasy Awards in 2018 for best anthology. The winner that year was "The New Voices of Fantasy", edited by Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman.
Mahvesh followed that up with another World Fantasy Award nominee anthology,
The Outcast Hours. This featured stories from various award-winning authors, such as Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Omar Robert Hamilton, and Frances Hardinge.
Mahvesh Murad has also hosted her own podcast, titled the
Midnight in Karachi podcast. This podcast focused on the book world and featured a variety of guests, including Margaret Atwood, Seanan McGuire, and Naomi Alderman.
Mahvesh is also a book critic and has written hundreds of book reviews for Tor.com and Reactor Mag.
Mahvesh Murad: Awards & Accolades
Mahvesh Murad books have been nominated for multiple awards, The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories was nominated for the World Fantasy Award, Anthology, in 2018. The Outcast Hours was nominated for the World Fantasy Award, Anthology, in 2020.
Related Authors
Fans of Mahvesh Murad also enjoy these authors:
- Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander Series.
- Neal Stephenson, author of the novel: Snow Crash.
- Naomi Novik, author of the Scholomance Series.
- Jeff VanderMeer, author of the Southern Reach Series.
- N.K. Jemisin, author of the Broken Earth Series.