Khair

The king has given a financial answer," said Abu Khair, "but not a political one.

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The story of the business she built under the Taliban, The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, is now a book recently published by HarperCollins.

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Mr. Khair spoke to The Wall Street Journal about himself, his novel and his favorite moments in literature.

Author tells of India's ordinary thugs Margherita Stancati 2011

A poet, novelist and essayist, Mr. Khair said that while his background is important, he opposes attempts to pigeonhole his work.

Author tells of India's ordinary thugs Margherita Stancati 2011

In his narrative, Mr. Khair takes the reader between a grandfather's library in modern-day Bihar and the back alleys of 19th-century England.

Author tells of India's ordinary thugs Margherita Stancati 2011

Above all, Mr. Khair's novel is about thugs, Indian thugs.

Author tells of India's ordinary thugs Margherita Stancati 2011

Born and raised in a Muslim household in Gaya, a town in Bihar, Mr. Khair spent several years in New Delhi before moving to Denmark.

Author tells of India's ordinary thugs Margherita Stancati 2011

Nisar Baluch was the warm-up to Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, the chief of the Marri tribe of Baluch, a man who had been engaged in combat with government forces off and on for 50 years, and whose son had recently been killed by Pakistani troops.

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In his mocking and provocative take on the genre, Mr. Khair's thug finds himself in the London of opium dens, sewers and fog, from where he writes letters in Persian to his loved one back home.

Author tells of India's ordinary thugs Margherita Stancati 2011

But that's exactly what Tabish Khair did in "The Thing About Thugs," one of five titles short-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize.

Author tells of India's ordinary thugs Margherita Stancati 2011