The Wine of Memories

 768 1024 MAHA KIMBERLY AKHTAR

“Drink wine…Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life…” so said Omar Khayyam in his Rubaiyyat in the 11th century. Fast forward a thousand years: I was about ten years old when I had my very first sip of red wine…it was a Chateau Margaux Grand Cru Classe, 1959. I don’t remember the…

A Writer’s Mecca

 768 1024 MAHA KIMBERLY AKHTAR

On a recent visit to Paris, I went on a pilgrimage to what I think is the mecca for writers…: the Bar Hemingway in the Ritz Hotel on the Place Vendome. It’s a small bar all the way in the back of the hotel, a bit of a walk through the long, luxurious corridors lined…

The Name Game…Kim Akhtar vs. Maha Akhtar

 1000 667 MAHA KIMBERLY AKHTAR

Despite having lived in New York since 1982, my career as an author was launched in Spain a decade ago. It was 2008 and I remember clearly sitting in a marketing meeting with my publisher who suggested that I use Maha Akhtar as my nom de plume. ‘It’s so much more exotic,’ she said,‘and it…

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