Listen to author and critic Erica Wagner in conversation with Huma Qureshi, writer of “Playing Games”, her first novel published by Sceptre in 2023. In her novel, the author draws a nuanced portrait of sisterhood, family, love and loss through the arc of two main characters, Hana and Mira. Throughout the conversation, Erica Wagner and Huma Qureshi evoke Alice Munro, Ann Patchett or even Ann Taylor, feminine writers who deeply inspired her to write about quiet, but significant, everyday moments. They also discuss how the author returns to the subject of real life informing fiction in “Playing Games”, a recurrent theme in her writing.

As part of the Rendez-vous littéraires rue Cambon [Literary Rendezvous at Rue Cambon], the podcast "les Rencontres" highlights the birth of a writer in a series imagined by CHANEL and House ambassador and spokesperson Charlotte Casiraghi.

(00:00 ) Introduction

(00:54 ) Presentation of Huma Qureshi by Erica Wagner

(04:34 ) On the author’s vocation as a writer

(06:50 ) The female writers that inspire her

(08:10 ) Writing about quiet, but significant, everyday moments

(09:47 ) On the writing and publication process

(12:10 ) Reading an extract of “Playing Games” by Huma Qureshi

(14:05 ) On the author’s approach to writing and her creative process

(16:27 ) : On her main characters

(18:37 ) The writer’s block

(20:33 ) Her first reader

(22:15 ) On real life informing fiction and the book’s reception

(27:56 ) The ending questionnaire of “les Rencontres”

Huma Qureshi, Playing Games, © Sceptre, 2023.

© Huma Qureshi, Playing Games, 2023. 

Cover: © Charlotte Ager. 

“Playing Games by Huma Qureshi review – a poignant sisterhood story" par Sana Goyal, © Guardian News & Media Ltd, 2024.

© The University of Warwick.

© Sciences PO.

Huma Qureshi, In Spite of Oceans: Migrant Voices, © The History Press, 2014.

© Harper’s Bazaar.

Huma Qureshi, The Jam Maker, © Harper's Bazaar, 2020.

Huma Qureshi, How We Met: A Memoir of Love and Other Misadventures, © Elliott & Thompson, 2021.

Huma Qureshi, Things We Do Not Tell the People We Love, © Sceptre, 2021.

© Books Are My Bag Indie Book Awards.

© The Jhalak Prize.

© The Edge Hill Prize, Edge Hill University

"In conversation with Huma Qureshi", © Sonder & Tell, 2021.

© The Financial Times.