Scottish Writers' Centre 'Autobiography as Novel' with Shazia Hobbs and Magi Gibson

The Gori’s Daughter is the fictional life story of a young mixed race woman, daughter of a Kashmiri father and a Glasgow mother, moved into the household as mistress alongside the Muslim wife and the children from both relationships. Her whole life is a constant dramatic struggle against the rejection and hostility her background generates in both Glasgow’s white and Asian communities. The book graphically documents her fight to offer her own daughter a culture and traditions she can accept with pride.

The Gori’s Daughter will prove to be of tremendous interest both nationally and internationally. Its uncompromising exploration of the realities rather than the myths of race relations within modern Scotland is likely to have an explosive impact, challenging as it does cosy assumptions on both sides. It will also appeal to all readers who enjoy a tale of the human spirit triumphing over the miseries and tyrannies imposed by traditionalists and bigots. The Gori’s Daughter sheds a relentless light on an aspect of Scottish-Asian relationships that is seldom acknowledged. The tale is often harrowing, always exciting and revealing, but is ultimately about triumph; a victory for resilience and decency over bigotry and discrimination.

Magi Gibson, of the Glasgow Women’s Library, will interview Shazia to explore the challenges of autobiography.