Tahmima Anam on satirising big tech - and the five years that her son wouldn’t eat

Tahmima Anam has had a fascinating life. Born in Bangladesh, she has lived in Paris, New York and Bangkok - and is now based in the UK. Her first novel, A Golden Age (2007), won the Commonwealth Writers Prizes' Best First Book award and launched a highly acclaimed trilogy concerned with telling the history of Bangladesh as an independent nation. Her most recent book, The Start Up Wife, is extremely different - a sort of "romantic comedy" (to use her phrase) which satirises the start-up industry, tech bros, and Big Tech's messianic tenancies. It's hilariously funny and bitingly sharp - she draws on her own experience of working in the field. We talked about all of that and more - including the incredibly difficult experience she had when her son, as an infant, refused to eat for the first five years of his life. I hope you find her as fascinating as I did - and apologies for my naughty, noisy cats playing in the background! 

Buy the book: https://tinyurl.com/startupwife

Instagram / Twitter: @aliceazania

Edited by Chelsey Moore