Saman Shad

My identity was scattered across continents, writing helped me find it.

Profile

Saman Shad is a writer, editor, journalist and teller of stories.

Much of her work is inspired by her experiences as a third culture kid, growing up and living in Pakistan, the Middle East, the UK and Australia. Her writing credits span mediums, including radio scriptwriting for the BBC in the UK and the ABC in Australia, and playwriting, with works commissioned by theatres in London and Sydney.

She regularly writes for several publications, including The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald and SBS. She has also worked on-screen projects, including developing the feature film One of Us with funding from Screen Australia.

Her debut novel The Matchmaker is out now published through Penguin Australia. Saman is a proud mum of three children and lives with them and her husband in Sydney.

Expertise

Talking Points

Overcoming Adversity

Saman's path to success was because of one decision her grandmother made when she was a teenage mother living in poverty in Pakistan. A personal story of overcoming adversity as her nani, who was taken out of school at the age of 16 to get married, put education first for her own children. The results have had positive ramifications for the generations to come.

The globalised workplace and third culture kids.

Third culture kids are those who grew up in multiple cultures different to the ones of their parents - how has this shaped them and how can you leverage a dynamic workplace by having a globalised workforce.

How to fearlessly follow your dreams, even if you think the odds are stacked against you.

A personal story about how I (who comes from a traditional Pakistani background) went travelling the world on my own to discover myself and follow my dreams. If I could do it, so can you.

How to become a writer.

It seems everyone has a book in them but not everyone knows how to go about unleashing the stories that live inside of them. Here I talk about my journey to getting a book published.