Jabeen Akhtar speaks about her debut novel “Welcome to Americastan”

Jabeen Akhtar speaks about her debut novel “Welcome to Americastan”

Jabeen Akhtar, an American national from Pakistani origins, has expressed her delight after writing her debut novel “Welcome to Americastan”.

Akhtar started her career off from a government job, writing regulations for the United States federal government. She decided to quit her well-paid government job when she found out her skill of writing.

“Welcome to Americastan” revolves around a Pakistani-American girl, Samira, who returns home after being dumped by her child hood boyfriend. The story reveals her difficulties in adjusting into her parent’s house in North Carolina,
where her mother teaches her Pakistani cuisines all day long and her cousins living up dual lives.

The young writer has well portrayed the lives of Muslim-Americans in the society and the plot of the novel is strong enough to excite the reader in reading the entire book.

Speaking on taking the initiative to write something, she explained:

“I used to write short stories, but only for myself. I never considered getting published. When I was 30, I broke up with my boyfriend and started writing about that. It was then I realized that I had a cohesive story. People who
read it suggested I add some of my personal experiences as a Pakistani in the US.”

She added: “I knew that I want to write a novel. There were so many Pakistani writers everywhere. The only way I could share my experiences of being a Pakistani and entertain readers was to write a book."

Speaking on the adaptation of the story, the debutant writer went on to deny portraying her personal life in the novel. She explained that the story is not based upon real life characters and insisted that she tried to write on
the Pakistani immigrants in the US.

Akhtar admitted that she had been given enough freedom by her family and gave the example of quitting her government job on her will. She explained that in America, people go to college, finish their graduation and try to find
a government job.

The American national went on to admit that she lived the same American way until she decided to write a book.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=1786

Posted by Farasat Ali on Oct 27 2011. Filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry