Moni Mohsin (born 1963) is a British-Pakistani writer based in London, United Kingdom. She wrote a long running satirical column ' The Diary of a Social Butterfly' for The Friday Times and a book with the same name.

Early life and career

Mohsin grew up in Lahore, Pakistan and describes herself as being from a family of "educated, westernised people". When General Zia ul-Haq came to power in a coup in 1977, her family began to feel less comfortable in the new, religious Pakistan, where political repression against nonconformists became routine, but she chose to remain in Lahore. Mohsin left Pakistan at age 16 to study at a boarding school in England, and later attended Cambridge University, where she studied anthropology and archaeology. After General Zia's death in 1988, she moved more decisively into the public sphere, working for the country's first independent magazine "

Friday Times ''The Friday Times'' (TFT) is a Pakistani English-language independent newsweekly, based in Lahore, Pakistan. History and profile ''The Friday Times'' was first published in May 1989. TFT's founder-editor Najam Sethi and publisher Jugnu Mohsin, ...

", where she rose to the ranks of features editor. Her sister,

Jugnu Mohsin Syeda Maimanat Mohsin (born 1959), commonly known as Jugnu Mohsin, is a Pakistani politician and journalist. She was an independent member of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab until 31 March 2022 and then joined PML(N) on 1 April 2022. Previou ...

, is the publisher of " The Friday Times", an independent Pakistani newsweekly. She is aunt of

Ali Sethi Ali Aziz Sethi (Urdu/; ; born July 2, 1984) is a Pakistani singer, songwriter, composer, and author. Sethi rose to prominence with his debut novel, '' The Wish Maker'' (2009). In 2012, Sethi began focusing on his musical career and made his film ...

and Mira Sethi. Mohsin is often invited in the panel of literary festivals. She was also included among the panel of judges for The

Zeenat Haroon Rashid Zeenat Haroon Rashid ( Urdu: زینت ہارون راشد; January 21, 1928 – April 8, 2017) was a Pakistani women's rights activist and founding member of the Women's National Guard. Early life and family Born in 1928, she was daughter of Ab ...

Writing Prize for Women.

Publications

Mohsin is author of two novels: "The End of Innocence" (2006) and "Tender Hooks" aka "Duty Free" (2011), and two books of collected columns: " The Diary of a Social Butterfly (2008)" and The Return of the Butterfly (2014). Her writings have also appeared in " The Times of India", " The Guardian", "

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (mining ...

", " The Nation",

1843 (magazine) ''1843'' (formerly ''Intelligent Life'') is a digital magazine published by ''The Economist'' which features longform narrative journalism as well as shorter reads and columns. Named after the year ''The Economist'' was founded, ''1843'' offers ...

( The Economist), Boston Review, NPR, Herald (Pakistan) and other publications. Mohsin is working as a freelancer and writes about class, politics, culture, society and lifestyle.

References

External links

Moni Mohsin
Official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Mohsin, Moni 1963 births Living people Pakistani emigrants to the United Kingdom Writers from Lahore English-language writers from Pakistan Punjabi people Pakistani socialites Pakistani columnists Pakistani women columnists