Dur e Aziz Amna on writing a story of womanhood and ambition in Pakistan: Southasia Review of Books podcast #37

A conversation with the writer Dur e Aziz Amna about her second novel, ‘A Splintering’, and its exploration of class struggle, female rage, and the challenges of navigating social expectations across rural and urban Pakistan.

Welcome to the Southasia Review of Books podcast, where we speak to celebrated authors and emerging literary voices from across Southasia. In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan speaks to the writer Dur e Aziz Amna about her second novel, A Splintering (Duckworth Books, September 2025).

In a village in rural Pakistan, Tara dreams of escaping the dust, the stench, and the violent grip of her brother. An education and marriage to a middle-class accountant takes her to the capital, but she soon learns that respectability can become its own kind of cage. Her hunger for freedom and social mobility only deepens, even as the shadows of her past loom large.

Set against a backdrop of political unrest and everyday precarity, A Splintering by Dur e Aziz Amna is a gripping story of womanhood, desire and the costs of ambition. 

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