Tahmima Anam’s cultural highlights

The author on Namwali Serpell's exquisite book On Morrison, finding an outlet in Apple TV's Shrinking, the film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya by Isao Takahata and the pure joy of AR Rahman x Rushil Ranjan in concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

by Tahmima Anam

12th August 2026

Tahmima Anam by Abeer Y. Hoque

Tahmima Anam is the author of the Bengal trilogy and a recipient of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book and the O. Henry Award. She is a Granta Best of Young British Novelist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, she trained as an anthropologist at Harvard University and now lives in London.

Book: On Morrison (2026) by Namwali Serpell

I could read Toni Morrison any day of the week, but re-reading her canon alongside Namwali Serpell’s textual deep-dive is like listening to your favourite album with an exquisite set of liner notes. This isn’t a biography as much as a discography – taking us through the Morrison canon and framing each novel within a set of ideas. Right now I’m re-reading Jazz, and Serpell is reminding me of the deeply romantic way Morrison writes about New York City.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/476454/on-morrison

TV: Shrinking (2023– )

We all need a safe, contained, emotional outlet for whatever tension or sadness builds up over the course of the week. Some of us don’t have time for, say, a full length feature film that will make us reconsider our life choices (for that, see below). Sometimes we just need a low-key way to feel our feelings. Cue Shrinking, a TV show about a group of people who really love each other and aren’t afraid to show it. They embody the concept of the Chosen Family – friends who will be bossy, nosy, argumentative, and unconditionally loving. I watch it, I weep, and then I always feel like the sun has just come out.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15677150/

Film: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013) directed by Isao Takahata

Lately, it’s been hard to find family movies that appeal to our growing kids (9 and 12), so we’ve turned to Japanese animation. Our recent favourite is the fairy tale-like Princess Kaguya, which tells the story of a baby found in a bamboo forest. As the baby grows up, her parents want to give her the privileged, sequestered life of a princess, and yet she yearns to roam free with her friends in the forest. It’s about parents and children and what the world expects from women, and how, in the end, we must cherish the gifts we are given. It’s a simple, yet deeply affecting film that will stay with you long after you’ve finished it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2576852/

Concert: AR Rahman x Rushil Ranjan at the Royal Albert Hall (2026)

My husband and I loved this concert so much that we went back the next day to see it again. A collaboration between UK-based composer Rushil Ranjan and Indian maestro AR Rahman, it was a cultural mashup of the best possible kind. AR Rahman performed some of his iconic Bollywood songs, but the star of the show was Abi Sampa, who leads Orchestra Qawwali, and was accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Voices choir. Hearing her fill the Royal Albert Hall with her soulful voice, watching her wave her arms in the traditional manner of the Qawwali, was pure joy. I will never forget it.