Omar Shahid Hamid
Omar Shahid Hamid is an acclaimed Pakistani novelist who lives in Karachi. In addition to his writing career, he has served as a senior counter terrorism police officer who, in between writing books, has survived several attempts on his life, investigated the international murder of a journalist in Kenya, and had his offices blown up by the Taliban. His first novel, The Prisoner, was published in 2013 by Pan Macmillan India, and proved to be a huge critical and commercial success. It has also been translated into French, German and Urdu, and is being adapted for a screenplay. His second novel, The Spinner’s Tale (2015, Pan Macmillan), won the Italy reads Pakistan prize and the Karachi Literature Festival fiction prize and has also been translated into Italian and German. His third book The Party Worker (2017, Pan Macmillan) won the Karachi Literature Festival fiction prize, making Omar the only writer to have won in consecutive years. His fourth book, The Fix (2019, Pan Macmillan) explores the world of match fixing in women’s cricket. His latest book is Betrayal (2021, Lighthouse Publishing).