Omar Shahid Hamid

As part of the Karachi Police’s Counter Terrorism department, Omar Shahid Hamid has survived being ambushed by gangsters, implicated by colleagues in a false case, and, as CID chief, barely escaped the bombing of his office by the Pakistani Taliban. In 2011, following an attack on his office by the Pakistani Taliban, he took a five-year sabbatical to write books and worked as a Political Risk Consultant. In 2016, Omar returned to active duty as a Counter Terrorism Officer. He has been widely quoted and regularly featured in several publications including ‘The New York Times’, ‘USA Today’, ‘The Wall Street Journal’, ‘The Times’, ‘Le Monde’, Reuters, CNN, and BBC. His first novel, ’The Prisoner’ (2013), was longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2015 and is now being adapted for a feature film. His second novel ‘The Spinner’s Tale’ (2015) won the 2016 Karachi Literature Festival Prize. He received the award again for his third novel ’The Party Worker’ (2017) at the Karachi Literature Festival in 2018 which is now being adapted for a TV series. His fourth book, ’The Fix’, explores the world of cricket match fixing. His fifth book ‘Betrayal’ is a spy thriller based in a regional cold war in South Asia.