Basharat Peer

Basharat Peer (born 1977) is a Kashmiri journalist, script writer, author, and political commentator, hailing from Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and currently based in New York City.[1][2][3] He is currently an Opinion editor at The New York Times (International).[4]

Basharat Peer
Basharat Peer
Born	1977 Seer Hamdan, Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir
Education	Political Science at Aligarh Muslim University Law at Faculty of Law, University of Delhi Journalism at Columbia University
Occupation	Journalist, author and political commentator; Staff Editor at International Edition of The New York Times
Employer	Reporter at Rediff Assistant Editor of Foreign Affairs Editor of India Ink
Notable credit(s)	Curfewed Night, A Question Of Order
Spouse(s)	Ananya Vajpeyi

Peer was a fellow of the Open Society Institute in New York, a George Soros initiative. He regards himself a Kashmiri, with his nationality being a "matter of dispute".[5]

Early and personal life

Peer was born in Seer Hamdan, Anantnag district in Jammu and Kashmir. He attended school in the valley of Kashmir and continued his education after matriculation in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh away from his strife-ridden birthplace. He studied political science at Aligarh Muslim University, law at Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, and journalism at Columbia University.[6]

Peer's father is a retired officer of the Kashmir Administrative Services.[7]

Peer is married to Ananya Vajpeyi, an academician.[8][9]

Career

Peer started his career as a reporter at Rediff and Tehelka. In his early career he was based in Delhi. He has worked as an Assistant Editor at Foreign Affairs and was a Fellow at Open Society Institute, New York. He was a Roving Editor at The Hindu. He has written extensively on South Asian politics for Granta,[10] Foreign Affairs,[11] The Guardian,[12] FT Magazine,[13] The New Yorker,[14] The National[15] and The Caravan.[16]

He is the author of Curfewed Night, an eyewitness account of the Kashmir conflict, which won the Crossword Prize for Non-Fiction and was chosen among the Books of the Year by The Economist and The New Yorker.[17][18]

Peer ran the "India Ink" blog on the digital edition of The New York Times.[19]

Notable work

Peer was the script writer along with Vishal Bhardwaj for the Bollywood film Haider (2014). He also had a special appearance in the film.[5][20]

Publications

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Curfewed night. Noida: Random House India. 2008.
• "Modern Mecca". A Reporter at Large. The New Yorker. 88 (9): 74–81, 84–87. 16 April 2012.

Notes

1. "The Wail of Kashmir". Indian Express. 30 November 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
2. "Fineprint: Curfewed Night, a memoir on Kashmir". CNN IBN. 16 November 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
3. "How green was my valley". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 7 December 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
4. "Basharat Peer is New York Times staff Editor". Kashmir Life. 22 December 2016.
5. Sircar, Subhadip (11 August 2010). "'My Nationality a Matter of Dispute': Basharat Peer". WSJ. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 December 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
7. Peer, Basharat; Basharat Peer. Curfewed Night. Random House India. p. 52. ISBN 9788184000900.
8. http://www.business-standard.com/article/specials/basharat-peer-the-man-who-scripted-haider-114103000877_1.html
9. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140724/jsp/opinion/story_18624378.jsp#.V5TDPNJ97IU
10. "Kashmir's Forever War". Granta. Archived from the original on 1 December 2013.
11. "India's Broken Promise". Foreign Affairs. May–June 2012.
12. Peer, Basharat (5 July 2003). "Victims of December 13". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 July 2003.
13. "Divided but not forgotten". Financial Times Magazine. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
14. Peer, Basharat (13 May 2013). "Posts by Basharat Peer". The New Yorker.
15. "Bound for success". The National. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
16. "The Legacy of The Looming Tower". The Caravan. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
17. Najar, Nida (24 February 2010). "Witnessing Kashmir's Invisible War". The New York Times.
18. Shamsie, Kamila (5 June 2010). "Curfewed Night: A Frontline Memoir of Life, Love and War in Kashmir by Basharat Peer". The Guardian. London.
19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
20. "Up Close with Haider's scriptwriter, Basharat Peer". Hindustan Times. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2019.

External links

• Video: Basharat Peer discusses his book Curfewed Night at the Asia Society, New York. 12 April 2010 Article about Basharat Peer adapting and co-writing the screenplay of the movie Haider, an adaptation of Hamlet set in mid-1990s Kashmir and directed by Vishal Bhardwaj.
• http://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/books/the-dawn-after-curfew/article1-1192577.aspx