Saman Shad
@samanshad1.bsky.social
Novelist, journalist, storyteller, playwright. My debut novel The Matchmaker is out now through Penguin Random House. https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-matchmaker-9781761345494
Pinned
Saman Shad
@samanshad1.bsky.social
· Dec 2
At the beginning of 2023 my book The Matchmaker was released and getting the Dymocks George street window was honestly a life highlight
Yes this isn’t great but what needs far more examination is Ben Carroll’s deep support of Israel
The new premier's reading pile from last year, posted without comment.
July 30, 2026 at 7:00 AM
Yes this isn’t great but what needs far more examination is Ben Carroll’s deep support of Israel
I wrote an article for The Guardian today about language and remembering your mother tongue www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I didn’t realise I still had my mother tongue in me – until I spoke Urdu in my sleep | Saman Shad
There was something instinctive about it, like a current pulling me back towards the language of my parents and grandparents
www.theguardian.com
March 24, 2026 at 3:56 AM
I wrote an article for The Guardian today about language and remembering your mother tongue www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Saman Shad
This is a sitting member of congress. Seek help, dude.
February 16, 2026 at 5:39 AM
This is a sitting member of congress. Seek help, dude.
I’m not sure which side of politics Chris Minns is appealing to but a great faction of who voted for him in the last election is unlikely to do so again
February 10, 2026 at 5:30 AM
I’m not sure which side of politics Chris Minns is appealing to but a great faction of who voted for him in the last election is unlikely to do so again
Reposted by Saman Shad
We'll say it again: "social cohesion", to those who chant it, means maintenance of the status quo which privileges them, and silencing of everyone else. In the mouth of a Labor MP, it is an expression of the deepest hypocrisy.
February 10, 2026 at 5:13 AM
We'll say it again: "social cohesion", to those who chant it, means maintenance of the status quo which privileges them, and silencing of everyone else. In the mouth of a Labor MP, it is an expression of the deepest hypocrisy.
Remember when the IDF said they’d be willing to train Australian police? Guess they have www.afr.com/politics/fed...
Israel offers to train Australian police to counter terror
Israeli’s Diaspora Affairs Minister says Israel brings “extensive experience in combating radical Islamic terrorism and anti-Semitism”.
www.afr.com
February 9, 2026 at 11:47 AM
Remember when the IDF said they’d be willing to train Australian police? Guess they have www.afr.com/politics/fed...
I know nothing about the Super Bowl but tuned in just to watch him
February 9, 2026 at 1:36 AM
I know nothing about the Super Bowl but tuned in just to watch him
It’s a strange thing to feel you can be pulled up or fired from your job because you protest a genocide. I grew up in Australia and never thought we’d see this day (or maybe I did)
February 9, 2026 at 12:41 AM
It’s a strange thing to feel you can be pulled up or fired from your job because you protest a genocide. I grew up in Australia and never thought we’d see this day (or maybe I did)
Reposted by Saman Shad
The spirit of healing and social cohesion
February 8, 2026 at 11:45 PM
The spirit of healing and social cohesion
Reposted by Saman Shad
The Jewish community speaks:
February 8, 2026 at 11:09 PM
The Jewish community speaks:
Reposted by Saman Shad
If you enjoyed a book(s), here are 10 things you can do to exercise your enormous power as a reader and radically help the author. And every action here is free:
1. Post about the book on your socials, even if you think your following is small. Every single voice matters.
2. Review on... (cont.)
1. Post about the book on your socials, even if you think your following is small. Every single voice matters.
2. Review on... (cont.)
November 12, 2025 at 9:33 PM
If you enjoyed a book(s), here are 10 things you can do to exercise your enormous power as a reader and radically help the author. And every action here is free:
1. Post about the book on your socials, even if you think your following is small. Every single voice matters.
2. Review on... (cont.)
1. Post about the book on your socials, even if you think your following is small. Every single voice matters.
2. Review on... (cont.)
Had a lovely event at the State Library of NSW as part of the Sydney writers festival
September 29, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Had a lovely event at the State Library of NSW as part of the Sydney writers festival
Reposted by Saman Shad
My dad sent me home with the AI-themed July/Aug issue of Christianity Today, to see what I think of it. Initially, I’m struck by this multi-spread add for gloo.ai, AI “rooted in Biblical principles” 🥴 It writes sermons, offers ministerial guidance, and “protects your content!”
August 4, 2025 at 2:44 PM
My dad sent me home with the AI-themed July/Aug issue of Christianity Today, to see what I think of it. Initially, I’m struck by this multi-spread add for gloo.ai, AI “rooted in Biblical principles” 🥴 It writes sermons, offers ministerial guidance, and “protects your content!”
On this note I think university education should be free for people of retirement age (look it should be free for everyone but baby steps)
While I'm on the topic of modern academia: where did all the mature-age undergrads go? Even a decade ago there seemed to be a lot of peri-retirement folks in undergrad seminars, now I never see them. JRG pricing scaring them off?
August 1, 2025 at 3:52 AM
On this note I think university education should be free for people of retirement age (look it should be free for everyone but baby steps)
Reposted by Saman Shad
🚨Antisemitism boss Jillian Segal and her husband are the second biggest funders of far-right group "Advance". The extremist lobby group spreads online racism and xenophobia, including directly targeting Palestinians...
theklaxon.com.au/hrgd
theklaxon.com.au/hrgd
Jillian Segal and husband funding far-right group "Advance" - The Klaxon
Antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal and her husband are among the biggest funders of far-right group "Advance”, which spreads hateful propaganda and racist tropes.
theklaxon.com.au
July 12, 2025 at 4:04 AM
🚨Antisemitism boss Jillian Segal and her husband are the second biggest funders of far-right group "Advance". The extremist lobby group spreads online racism and xenophobia, including directly targeting Palestinians...
theklaxon.com.au/hrgd
theklaxon.com.au/hrgd
Reposted by Saman Shad
While checking the Gaza death toll, which has already passed 55,000, I read this article from Aug 24. It is one of the most horrific things I’ve ever read even as the headlines tell of starving Palestinians being killed while seeking aid. And now, the violence is spreading even further.
The bodies of Palestinians killed in the latest Israeli massacre in Gaza were destroyed so far beyond recognition that doctors have only been able to give grieving families an anonymous bag of human remains to bury.
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/08/the-fajr-massacre-every-70-kg-bag-of-human-remains-…
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/08/the-fajr-massacre-every-70-kg-bag-of-human-remains-…
The Fajr massacre: Every 70 kg bag of human remains is considered a martyr
The bodies of Palestinians killed in the latest Israeli massacre in Gaza were destroyed so far beyond recognition that doctors have only been able to give grieving families an anonymous bag of human remains...
buff.ly
June 13, 2025 at 7:08 AM
While checking the Gaza death toll, which has already passed 55,000, I read this article from Aug 24. It is one of the most horrific things I’ve ever read even as the headlines tell of starving Palestinians being killed while seeking aid. And now, the violence is spreading even further.
Reposted by Saman Shad
Netanyahu taps arms smuggler and mercenary Erik Prince to run "humanitarian relief" for Gaza. Very little is known about the private companies contracted by the new Gaza Humanitarian Fund, staffed by CIA, Blackwater and US military personnel, from their funding to their rules of engagement.
'They don't look like humanitarians': Opaque U.S. military contractors guarding Gaza aid
***
www.haaretz.com
May 24, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Netanyahu taps arms smuggler and mercenary Erik Prince to run "humanitarian relief" for Gaza. Very little is known about the private companies contracted by the new Gaza Humanitarian Fund, staffed by CIA, Blackwater and US military personnel, from their funding to their rules of engagement.
Folks I’m offering signed copies of my two books plus a 30 minute chat at this auction raising funds for Palestine. Pls bid for a good cause airauctioneer.com/authors-and-...
Signed, two-book bundle PLUS 30-minute Zoom chat with author Saman Shad
Signed copies of Saman Shad's two novels: The Matchmaker and The Sex Lives of Married Women PLUS a 30-minute Zoom call Please note: this auction includes physical items that will only be posted within...
airauctioneer.com
May 9, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Folks I’m offering signed copies of my two books plus a 30 minute chat at this auction raising funds for Palestine. Pls bid for a good cause airauctioneer.com/authors-and-...
Can we all just come together to enjoy Dutton losing? Even if for a brief moment?
May 4, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Can we all just come together to enjoy Dutton losing? Even if for a brief moment?
Reposted by Saman Shad
Ooh great conversation w/ @samanshad1.bsky.social about her new book, The Sex Lives of Married Women 🥳
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04...
Why novel The Sex Lives of Married Women made its author nervous
When Saman Shad sat down to write her latest novel, she came up against several challenges. Not least of them was how to find time to write amid the chaos of having a small family.
www.abc.net.au
April 13, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Ooh great conversation w/ @samanshad1.bsky.social about her new book, The Sex Lives of Married Women 🥳
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04...
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04...
We don’t have enough toilets in my kids public school but at least the private school kids have a castle www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...
Inside this Sydney private school’s $60 million castle
Eastern suburbs private school Scots College will this week unveil the faux baronial castle after years of delay and budget blowouts.
www.smh.com.au
April 9, 2025 at 11:35 AM
We don’t have enough toilets in my kids public school but at least the private school kids have a castle www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...
My new book The Sex Lives of Married Women is out today and I wrote a little bit about it for @australia.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Love, actually: how intimacy survives marriage and motherhood | Saman Shad
The key isn’t chasing some impossible ideal of passion that never fades but learning to appreciate love in all its evolving forms
www.theguardian.com
April 1, 2025 at 3:42 AM
My new book The Sex Lives of Married Women is out today and I wrote a little bit about it for @australia.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Saman Shad
The ongoing assault on free speech in Australian arts is only worsening. This is obscene.
Stripping funding from the entire organisation because an artist spoke out against genocide.
Australians really need to shut the fuck up about Trump for a second while this shit is going on.
Australians really need to shut the fuck up about Trump for a second while this shit is going on.
March 27, 2025 at 5:38 AM
The ongoing assault on free speech in Australian arts is only worsening. This is obscene.
The news about Rumeysa Ozturk is so terrifying. I honestly don’t know how Americans aren’t rioting in the streets as their freedoms slip away
March 27, 2025 at 12:25 AM
The news about Rumeysa Ozturk is so terrifying. I honestly don’t know how Americans aren’t rioting in the streets as their freedoms slip away
Can we ask the same about TV shows?
March 22, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Can we ask the same about TV shows?