Suhayl Saadi is an early Twenty-First Century novelist and stage and radio dramatist based in Glasgow, Scotland. His work spans everything from groundbreaking literary fiction to theatre productions for all ages to popular 'wisdom pieces' for national BBC Radio Two's Sarah Kennedy Show.
Suhayl Saadi's latest novel, Psychoraag (Black and White Publishing, 2004) won a PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award, was short-listed for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (2005) and the Patras Bokhari Prize (2005), was nominated for the IMPAC Prize (2006) and will be published in French by the Paris-based Éditions Métailié.
Suhayl Saadi's short story collection, The Burning Mirror was shortlisted for the Saltire First Book Prize (2001).
Suhayl Saadi's first novel, The Snake (Creation Books, 1997), written under the name, Melanie Desmoulins, was a literary erotic fiction in the vein of Bataille, Nin and Appollinaire.
Suhayl Saadi has written stage and radio plays, including The Dark Island (BBC Radio Four, London, 2004), The White Cliffs (Glasgow, 2005) and Saame Sita (Edinburgh, 2003).
Suhayl Saadi has edited or co-edited a number of anthologies, including Macallan Shorts (2002, Polygon), A Fictional Guide to Scotland (2003) and Freedom Spring: Ten Years On (2005), a compilation of new writing from South Africa and Scotland.
Suhayl Saadi has appeared widely on TV, radio and in public across the world and currently is working on another novel and several stage plays. His work has been described in the press as "hallucinatory realism" and as "a cross between [that of] Salman Rushdie and Irvine Welsh".
Suhayl Saadi's work has appeared in translation in various anthologies, most recently in German (Cool Britannia, Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, 2006, ed. by AL Kennedy).
Suhayl Saadi has penned articles and essays for numerous outlets, including The Independent, The Times, The Herald, The Sunday Herald, the British Council and The Scotsman covering subjects as diverse as psychedelic music, Sufism, the British pantomime, the future of creativity and various aspects of literature and its relationship with the global political situation.
Suhayl Saadi has written song lyrics for various classical and folk-rock combos, including the Scotland-based Dunedin Consort and the Africa-centred Project Paradisum and also has published occasional poetry.
Suhayl Saadi is a co-director and board member of the arts production company, Heer Productions Limited, which in the United Kingdom in 2005 established the Pakistani Film, Media and Arts Festival, the first-ever such festival to take place outside of Pakistan.
Selected Bibliography:Psychoraag (Black and White Publishing, 2004) The White Cliffs (Sandstone Vistas, 2004) The Burning Mirror (Polygon, 2001) The Saelig Tales (in 'Magic Afoot', Textualities, 2006)The Aerodrome (Sandstone Press, 2005) The Snake (Creation Books, 1997)A Fictional Guide to Scotland (Open Ink, 2003) (co-ed.) Freedom Spring: Ten Years On (Waverley Books/ Glasgow City Council, 2005) (co-ed.) Macallan Shorts (Polygon, 2002) (ed.)
