Rukhsana is a playwright, writer and translator. Stage plays include: Song for a Sanctuary, Gatekeeper’s Wife, River on Fire, Mistaken: Annie Besant in India and Letting Go.
For BBC Radio, besides originals, she has adapted: Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero, Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, R. K. Narayan’s The Guide, Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers and M. M. Kaye’s The Far Pavilions. She contributed to the series: Westway and was lead writer for the serial: Piyaar Ka Passport.
Screenplays: Cassandra and the Viaduct (BBC). Amal’s Story (RC Films) and Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers, (adaptation UK FC/Keel Films) Podcast: Trial by Fire (was commissioned by Historic Royal Palaces)
Fiction: Her first novel: The Hope Chest (Virago) and her anthology: The Gatekeeper’s Wife (ILQA) are both highly regarded.
Her short stories have appeared in anthologies around the world.
Translations: We Sinful Women: contemporary Urdu feminist poetry (The Women’s Press) The One who did not Ask, a novel by Altaf Fatima (Heinemann).
Awards: River on Fire Finalist, Susan Smith Blackburn International Award Wide Sargasso Sea Finalist, Writers Guild Award for Best Radio Adaptation Song for a Sanctuary Finalist CRE Award, best original radio drama plus nomination Susan Smith Blackburn International Award
Rukhsana co-founded Kali Theatre Company and the digital archive: SADAA (South Asian Diaspora Arts Archive, formerly: SALIDAA). She served on the Arts Council’s Translation panel, Literary Magazines Committee and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain’s Theatre Committee.
Rukhsana was RLF Fellow at Queen Mary, University of London.
Agent: Diana Tyler at MBA Literary Agents
