Who is Rumaan Alam?
Novelist Rumaan was born to Bangladeshi parents who immigrated to the US in the 70s
Netflix recently won the rights to do a feature based on celebrated Bangladeshi-origin American author Rumaan Alam's upcoming novel "Leave the World Behind".
The adaptation will feature an ensemble cast with Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington in lead roles, and will be directed and written by Sam Esmail.
This is not Rumaan Alam's first stint to popularity. The New York resident has been famous for his books. Alam's first novel, "Rich and Pretty," published in 2016 was one of the biggest literary sensations in the US that year. Alam writes from his own experience and surprisingly pulls off a woman's perspective succinctly.
"I think it is a not uncommon experience for gay boys, young men, and even older men to spend a lot of time in the company of women," Alam said in an interview with Time magazine in 2016.
"When I was a little boy, all of my pals are girls, and when I went to college the same held true, and then when I left college and went into the work force, I worked at fashion magazines, and it is a place where women really run the show."
Rumaan was born to Bangladeshi parents who immigrated to the US in the 70s. His father was an architect and mother a doctor, in the suburbs of Washington, DC.
He describes the place as "a place of absolutely no place. I think that is helpful for me. Lauren, one of the protagonists, has this suburban chip on her shoulder. And that is a very common kind of American attitude, and that is the attitude I possess."
Alam went to Oberlin College, in Ohio, and has spent the years since graduation in New York City, where "Rich and Pretty" is set.
"It is a great immigrant story. The children of doctors and lawyers and engineers who end up becoming artists or art directors. In many ways, it's probably the oldest story in America," Alam said about his first novel.
He also wrote two other books - That Kind of Mother: A Novel, published in 2018 and Leave the World Behind: A Novel, expected to release in October this year. All of his novels are from the perspective of a woman.
Alam is a contributing editor at The New Republic,and lives with his photographer husband David A Land, their two adoptive children - 7-year-old Xavier and 10-year old Simon in New York's Brooklyn.
"I am very busy right now making a Game of Thrones dragon for my younger son," said the novelist, also a LEGO model enthusiast, in a recent interview with Vanity Fair over the phone.
