The Salam Award

Introduction:

The 2nd Salam Workshop returned to Lahore, Pakistan in February  2025. Hosted by The Salam Award and the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences (MGSHSS), the residential workshop took place from February 17 to February 27, 2025, at LUMS in Lahore, Pakistan. A cohort of 12 participants were selected from across the country. Award-winning authors Karen Joy Fowler and Robert V.S Redick joined the event as lead instructors.

Participants:

Syeda Raazia Naqvi

Maliha Rao

Ammara Younus

Sahar Majid

Omar Ali Jehangir

Kehkashan Khalid

Raazia Sajid

Tooba Afraz

Maryam Rana

Zaynah Abbas

Ayesha Malik

Maryam Zahid

Instructors

Karen Joy Fowler

Karen Joy Fowler is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels and three short story collections. Her 2004 novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, spent thirteen weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s previous novel, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Her debut novel, Sarah Canary, won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian, was listed for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize as well as the Bay Area Book Reviewers Prize, and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s short story collection Black Glass won the World Fantasy Award in 1999, and her collection What I Didn’t See won the World Fantasy Award in 2011. Her most recent novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, won the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction and was short-listed for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. Her new novel Booth published in March 2022 and was long-listed for the 2022 Booker Prize.

Robert V.S Redick

Robert V.S. Redick is the author of Master Assassins and Sidewinders (July 2021), the first two novels in The Fire Sacraments epic fantasy series. Master Assassins (2018) was a finalist for the European Booknest Award for Best Novel, and was featured on numerous Best of the Year lists. Robert is also the author of the Chathrand Voyage Quartet (The Red Wolf Conspiracy and sequels), among the most beloved and critically acclaimed epic fantasy series of recent years. He is a former instructor in the Stonecoast and University of Nevada Reno MFA programs.