Melody Razak

Melody Razak

Razak attended Birkbeck where they received a MA in Creative Writing.

Melody Razak has written one standalone novel so far. This novel is called Moth and was released in 2022. There are no upcoming standalone novels by Melody at this time.

Her debut novel was released with much anticipation with Razak being named one of Harper’s Bazaar‘s ‘Five Debut Female Authors to Read This Summer’ and one of the Observer‘s ‘Ten Debut Novelists’ of 2021.

Before her debut novel, she owned the café treacle&co. Melody also has worked as a pastry chef at Honey and Co. in London.

Melody has also written articles for the Observer, Food Monthly, and the Sunday Times.

Moth was longlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2022 and the Desmond Elliott Prize.

Speaking with EasternEye about the inspirations for her novel, she said a Radio 4 Programme called Partition Voices inspired her. She began to research the history of post-Partition India and the many women affected. “A lot of these women were never allowed to speak or to tell their story and I felt quite a lot of outrage on their behalf. I was thinking, how do I give these women a voice when it’s impossible for me to speak to any of them? That was the beginnings of the novel.”

The novel's title was inspired by a strange event in her life as told by Melody to The Telegraph Online. She had collected pashmina scarves from India over the years of travel, but a moth infestation caused them to ruin. "I picked one up and it just crumpled into dust in front of me. And it was really that feeling of it falling apart that made me think of the situation and Partition."

Melody Razak: Lists & Other Mentions

• Moth was a New York Times: Best Historical Fiction Books in 2022.

Melody Razak: F.A.Q