LE PORTRAIT MAGAZINE MARCH-SEPTEMBER ISSUE | Page 45

your betters and your peers,” he says seriously. “It’s a craft: one is
learning all the time.”
In tracing the radicalisation of a British Muslim, Safdar knows Akram’s
War “will inspire commentary”; but he has no interest in adding to any
debate, wishing the book to speak for itself. He is already at work on his
next novel, The Journeyman – “about a boxer who always loses”, – and
still practises dentistry part-time. To be able to write full-time would be
nice, he says, but then reconsiders. “That’s a double-edged sword.
Sitting in that shed, which I did for four years, does takes its toll… You
need to mix it up a bit.” SC
Akram’s War will be published by Atlantic on 5 May, £12.99.
Fiona Barton: ‘The journalist character Kate’s reactions are not
necessarily mine’

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