Shaila Abdullah

Shaila Abdullah

Listen to the author reading from Beyond the Cayenne Wall

Shaila Abdullah is a media designer by profession. She has a bachelors degree in English literature and a diploma in graphic design. She also has a diploma in freelance writing. Her creative work focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of Pakistani women and their often unconventional choices in life.

Beyond the Cayenne Wall

Shaila Abdullah
iUniverse, Inc (2005)
ISBN 0595370098

"Beyond the Cayenne Wall" is a collection of stories about Pakistani women struggling to find their individuality in spite of the barriers they face. In Pakistan, a region of shifting boundaries, women are eternally tested by the looming age-old walls that separate the acceptable from the sinful. Folklore, mysticism, infertility, abuse …

These and other forces temper the landscape of Pakistan in the book, where relationships between past and present, love and duty, freedom and tradition, collide in the hearts and minds of its women.

Among other awards, Shaila Abdullah's book, "Beyond the Cayenne Wall" received the Jury Prize for Outstanding Fiction in the 2005 Norumbega Fiction Awards. It also received a Notable Mention in the 2006 Writers Notes Book Awards. She was was recently awarded the 2006 Dream Grant from Hobson Foundation for a new book project.