Anjum Malik

Who am I?

Born in Dharan, Saudi Arabia of Pakistani parents, Anjum's languages are Urdu, English, Punjabi, Hindi with some understanding of Gujerati, Bengali and Arabic. She now lives in Manchester, England.

She comes from a family of prominent poets, writers, photographers and painters in Pakistan. When she was seven, her family returned to Pakistan. They lived in Rawalpindi where she attended school and travelled throughout Pakistan extensively. Her parents employed a private tutor for Anjum, Masterji, who taught Anjum all about Urdu literature after school for two hours a day.

After four years Anjum's family moved to England. After living in London briefly her family moved, settling in Bradford, Yorkshire. Anjum was raised in the Islamic tradition, her knowledge of Pakistani culture is extensive together with experience of British urban life in a variety of English locations both North and South. She has travelled all over the world, to the Far East, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Mauritius, Australia, America and South Africa. She also travels to Pakistan regularly.

After careers in the police force and in business, Anjum is now a full-time writer and arts practitioner. She has written several original radio plays as well as two series of her original Woman’s Hour drama The Interpreter. Her most recent radio work is Napoleon Rising, an adaptation of an unperformed Anthony Burgess play. She has also written for Doctors, Silver Street, Coronation Street and has an original screenplay in development. Anjum’s stage credits include two stage monologues for the People’s History Museum in Manchester and she was a writer in residence for the Kali Theatre Company.

She was a Visiting Teaching Fellow at the Manchester Writing School for several years and delivered workshops at the Emirates Festival of Literature on behalf of the school. She joined Manchester Met as a Lecturer in Creative Writing in January 2017.

Publications

• Other

  A. Malik (2022). Appointed City Poet for Manchester as one of first 3 multilingual poets.

  A. Malik (2021). Festival of Libraries’ Writer In Residence The Bolton Library Word - pamphlet.