Author
Mahreen Sohail
Associated Country
Pakistan
Mahreen Sohail is a Pakistani writer known for her literary fiction, particularly short stories that explore women’s lives, family dynamics, identity, and social constraints in contemporary Pakistan. Her work often focuses on intimate domestic settings while revealing broader questions about freedom, grief, desire, and the roles women are expected to play in society.
She is the author of the short story collection Small Scale Sinners (2025), which received significant critical attention and won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The collection was praised for its sharp prose, emotional intensity, and ability to capture complex human experiences through concise, layered storytelling. Her stories have appeared in major literary magazines such as Granta and The Kenyon Review, and she has been recognized for her skill in blending psychological depth with social observation.
Sohail has an MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and has participated in several prestigious writing fellowships and residencies. She is part of a generation of contemporary writers contributing to South Asian literary fiction on an international stage, with work that bridges local experience and global readership.
She is the author of the short story collection Small Scale Sinners (2025), which received significant critical attention and won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The collection was praised for its sharp prose, emotional intensity, and ability to capture complex human experiences through concise, layered storytelling. Her stories have appeared in major literary magazines such as Granta and The Kenyon Review, and she has been recognized for her skill in blending psychological depth with social observation.
Sohail has an MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and has participated in several prestigious writing fellowships and residencies. She is part of a generation of contemporary writers contributing to South Asian literary fiction on an international stage, with work that bridges local experience and global readership.
Books
Small Scale Sinners 2025
In twelve electric, potent stories, Mahreen Sohail explores the facets of women’s lives, as daughters, siblings, and mothers, in marriage, and alone. She writes of women who are fluent in the language...