SUMAYYA USMANI is an award-winning author is based in Glasgow. Originally from Karachi, Pakistan, she spent her early childhood on merchant ships traveling the seas with her parents and later settled in Karachi where she grew up. Sumayya was a lawyer for twelve years but left law to become a full time writer in 2011. Sumayya’s passion for food and nostalgic writing lead to her first cookbook with memories Summers Under the Tamarind Tree winning the Gourmand Book Award in 2016 as well being shortlisted for the Food & Travel Book Awards. Her second book Mountain Berries and Desert Spice was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Awards 2017. Both were published by Frances Lincoln. Her memoir Andaza: A Memoir of Food, Flavour and Finding Freedom in the Pakistani Kitchen was published by Murdoch Books in 2023.
Sumayya is a regular panelist on BBC Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet with Jay Rayner and has worked with Madhur Jaffrey, Claudia Roden and Rachel Allen, amongst many other celebrity food writers. Sumayya was a columnist for the Sunday Herald and has appeared in and written for The New York Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Delicious, Olive, Saveur, BBC Good Food and many other publications. Sumayya is currently working on her next nonfiction book, which is a braided narrative of memoir, history and food.
- Areas of expertise: non-fiction book proposal writing, non-fiction with a focus on food and memoir
- Location: Glasgow
- Possible meeting places: Mitchell Library (Glasgow), Waterstones Sauchiehall Street (Glasgow)
Sumayya’s website; Sumayya is also on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
