Birth—1963
Where—Karachi
Education—B.A. in economics from Harvard College
Currently—Houston, TX

Bibliography

• Karachi Raj (Harper Collins, 2015)

• My Tranquil War and Other Poems (NYQ Books, 2012)

• The Fifth Lash and Other Stories (C&R Press, 2012)

• Against the Workshop: Provocations, Polemics, Controversies (Texas Review Press, 2011)

• Anatolia and Other Stories (Black Lawrence Press, 2009)

Anis Shivani is a fiction writer, poet, and critic in Houston, Texas.

Belonging to a Pakistani Memon family, Shivani is a graduate of Harvard where he majored in economics and the social sciences.

His debut poetry book is My Tranquil War and Other Poems, recently released by NYQ Books. His other new book is the story collection, The Fifth Lash and Other Stories, recently released by C&R Press and currently on the longlist for the Frank O’Connor short story award.

My Tranquil War and Other Poems received advance praise from Franz Wright, Eileen Myles, Fady Joudah, Marilyn Hacker, Kevin Prufer, Campbell McGrath, Michael McClure, and others. A recent review of the book is here, and another one here.

 The Fifth Lash and Other Stories received advance praise from Ron Rash, Gina Ochsner, George Singleton, Murzban Shroff, and others. Publishers Weekly wrote: “These new stories from Shivani, many set in Pakistan, parse the disconnect between public and private behavior, and the desires that must be muted in order for people to survive. Shivani is a perceptive writer who puts his finger on the contradictions his characters navigate to survive daily life.” A recent review of the book is here.

Anis’s debut novel Karachi Raj was released in October 2013. Orhan Pamuk, Ha Jin, Mohammed Hanif, and Siddhartha Deb have offered advance praise. 

In criticism, Anis’s books include Against the Workshop (2011), the recently completed Literature at the Global Crossroads, and a book in progress called Plastic Realism: Neoliberal Discourse in the New American Novel.

Anis’s other books include Anatolia and Other Stories (2009), the recently completedSoraya: Sonnets, a novel in progress, Abruzzi, 1936, and a poetry manuscript in progress, Empire.

Anis’s work appears in the Southwest Review, Boston Review, Threepenny Review, Prairie Schooner, Agni, Epoch, Fence, Boulevard, Pleiades, Denver Quarterly, George Review, Iowa Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Antioch Review, Subtropics, Green Mountains Review, Puerto del Sol, Colorado Review, Times Literary Supplement, London Magazine, Cambridge Quarterly, Contemporary Review, Antigonish Review, Dalhousie Review, Fiddlehead, Prism International, Meanjin, and many other journals. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle, and reviews books for many newspapers and magazines.

Anis won a 2012 Pushcart Prize, graduated from Harvard College, and lives in Houston, Texas.

Karachi Raj
Anis Shivani
About half-way through Anis Shivani’s rambling, open, generous novel, Karachi Raj, a photographer named Tipu appears at the home of Claire, an American anthropologist working in the huge slum referred to as “the Basti”. During their conversation, he suggests that anthropologists like her think of people they observe as primitive. She protests, saying that the people from the Basti have a lot to teach.