Saima Mir: Code-Switching & The Truth About Being An Author

Award-winning journalist and novelist Saima Mir joins David Headley to talk about crime, justice, identity and the experiences that shaped her bestselling Jia Khan series.Drawing on her years reporting from courtrooms and covering the aftermath of the Bradford riots, Saima reflects on what happens when communities lose faith in the institutions meant to protect them, and why she has always been interested in the forces that push people towards the choices they make.She also discusses code-switching and the pressure to be “authentic”, creating a British Pakistani female crime boss in a patriarchal world, and why Bradford became such a powerful presence in her fiction. Plus, Saima is refreshingly candid about the realities of earning a living as a novelist, publishing’s reluctance to talk about money, and why she believes storytelling matters more than ever in the age of AI.Send Me Your Book Confessions — share your favourite books, collecting stories, questions and reactions to episodes.