Selected work
Reportage
& Essays
Reporting and essays on culture, conflict, migration and travel—focused on ordinary lives, hidden histories and the places where larger events become personal.
Making It in Bollywood
Inside the world of Mumbai's 'strugglers' — the aspiring actors who arrive in the city by the thousand — and what their journeys reveal about who gets to be a star in modern India.
The Bookseller of Southall
Meeting Shah Muhammad Rais, once Kabul's most famous bookseller, now selling Afghan books as a refugee in London.
'I want my expedition to speak for Afghan women'
Walking the Peak District with Freshta Ibrahimi, who hopes to be the first Afghan woman to summit Everest.
Shadow City, Invisible City: Walking Through an Ever-Changing Kabul
An essay written after the Taliban's takeover of Kabul on the changing nature of the city and the lives of its residents.
The Buddha of Kabul
What the excavation of a Buddhist monastery on the fringes of Kabul reveals about the layers of history beneath the city's surface.
The Dam
Walking the length of Steindamm in Hamburg reveals a city of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers.
Mumbai: a Virtual Tour Through Books, Film, Music and Food
A portrait of the city through its culture, for readers travelling in their imagination.
The Making of a Refugee
A long-form series reported from Hamburg, on the lives and work of Afghan artists, filmmakers and musicians in exile.
How Ranveer Singh Made It
A profile of the Bollywood star, and how stardom is manufactured and maintained in Indian pop culture.