In this episode of Let’s Talk About That, Anirvan Ghosh speaks with Shamim Sarif, award-winning novelist, screenwriter, and director, about the power of storytelling to illuminate identity, love, and belonging.

Shamim grew up in London in an Indian Muslim family with deep roots in South Africa, and from an early age saw the world through stories. As she came to understand her own identity, she found herself drawn to writing the kinds of queer and cross-cultural stories she rarely saw represented on screen or in books.

The conversation traces her journey from novelist to filmmaker, including I Can’t Think Straight, The World Unseen, Despite the Falling Snow, and Polarized. Shamim reflects on navigating family and cultural expectations, building a life with her wife and creative partner Hanan Kattan, who is Palestinian, and discovering that stories she wrote because they were important to her could have profound meaning for people who had rarely seen themselves represented. Shamim tells deeply human stories that draw on her lived experience as an LGBTQ+ artist and is a voice we all need to hear.

Film, book, and television credits at https://www.shamimsarif.com/