Hanif Kureishi

Hanif Kureishi is a British novelist, playwright and screenwriter. He first found fame in 1975 with the screenplay for the film My Beautiful Laundrette (1996), which was nominated for an Oscar. The themes of his work, which includes the novel The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) and the plays My Son the Fanatic (1997) and Venus (2007), range from race and sexuality to immigration and identity. His last work to be published was his Collected Stories in 2010, which gathers short writings from the later part of his career. He tells Razia Iqbal how he taps into the experiences of family, friends and loved ones in pursuit of his art. Does he regret the effect this has on his relationships with those around him?