Saira Arian

Saira Arian writes minimalist stories of quiet, poetic observation, from Abu Dhabi, where she lives with her husband and two daughters. Her short story 'Bhutto is Dead' won Editor's Choice in the Edinburgh Short Story Award anthology Heartsick (2025), and she was longlisted for the Cranked Anvil Flash Fiction Competition (2024), with work in the Hillingdon Literary Festival Anthology. Her fiction, rooted in Pakistani settings, explores the inner lives of ordinary people and the weight of what remains unsaid. She has also completed a three-book children's series, 'Alina and Miss Boot Nee', drawing on Pakistani and South Asian folklore, now on submission to UK agents. Before fiction, Saira worked across storytelling — from documentary filmmaking, including a production role on Forbidden Note, which premiered at the 68th Cannes Film Festival, to leading the UK Home Office's 'Learning from Experience' programme, winning the CILIP Knowledge Initiative of the Year (2022). She is available for author talks, workshops and school visits.

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