{"id":180168,"date":"2026-02-25T20:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T20:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/180168\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T20:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T20:53:09","slug":"short-stories-link-together-experiences-from-the-pakistani-diaspora-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/180168\/","title":{"rendered":"Short stories link together experiences from the Pakistani diaspora \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"Tayyba<\/p>\n

Photo: Jamey Stillings<\/p>\n

Houston writer Tayyba Kanwal has released a collection of shorts stories called \u201cTalking with Boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Houston writer Tayyba Kanwal<\/a> has a background in mathematics and technology, but she has spent much of her recent years engaging in literary pursuits. Among them: she’s the managing editor of the literary journal Conjunctions<\/a>, and she is the literary director for the Houston literary organization Inprint<\/a>. And now, she has a collection of short stories out called Talking with Boys<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The stories in the collection take place all over the world, from Houston to Dubai, but they end up finding ways to link together. There’s a community of Pakistani immigrants in Houston using some unlikely bait to distract ICE officers. Then, there’s a housekeeper in a mansion in Dubai plotting to liberate her fellow indentured workers. And there\u2019s a Houston woman getting a chance to compete in a reality TV show called Top Nanny.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n

To learn about what goes on in the stories and how her experiences as a Pakistani-American shaped their themes, Kanwal talks with Houston Matters producer Michael Hagerty<\/a> (audio above).<\/p>\n

She will discuss the book at an event at Basket Books<\/a> on March 3 at 7 p.m.<\/p>\n

\"Tayyba<\/p>\n

Michael Hagerty\/Houston Public Media<\/p>\n

Tayyba Kanwal in the Houston Public Media studios.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Jamey Stillings Houston writer Tayyba Kanwal has released a collection of shorts stories called \u201cTalking with Boys.\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1174,3104,56,58,4978,57,72287,4012,66,5733,72288,72289,4979,72290],"class_list":{"0":"post-180168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-arts-culture","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-headlines","12":"tag-houston-matters","13":"tag-houston-news","14":"tag-inprint-houston","15":"tag-literature","16":"tag-local","17":"tag-michael-hagerty","18":"tag-pakistanis-in-houston","19":"tag-short-stories","20":"tag-shows","21":"tag-tayyba-kanwal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}