Anam Zakaria is the author of 1971: A People’s History from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India (Penguin Random House 2019), Between the Great Divide: A Journey into Pakistan-administered Kashmir (HarperCollins Publishers 2018) and The Footprints of Partition: Narratives of Four Generations of Pakistanis and Indians (HarperCollins Publishers 2015) which won the 2017 KLF-German Peace Prize. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Walrus, CBC, Toronto Star, Al Jazeera, The Hill Times, Scroll.in, TheWire.in and Dawn, among other outlets.

Through her writing, Anam explores state narratives, oral histories, dehumanization and otherization, intergenerational memory and the politics of remembering and forgetting. She has documented narratives of genocide, war, sexual violence, immigration and displacement. 

She holds a B.A in International Development from McGill University, an M.A in Anthropology and an M.Ed in Counselling Psychology from the University of Toronto, and a diploma in counselling from the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB), UK. 

Apart from her writing, Anam has over 15 years of senior leadership experience in the non-profit sector. In Canada, Anam has worked in the settlement sector to support newcomers and refugees and is currently leading the DiverseCity Fellows program at CivicAction, an award-winning leadership experience for diverse leaders in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, working towards building better, more inclusive cities. Anam is also the Co-Founder and Strategic Director of Qissa, a non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, archiving and exhibiting oral histories of immigrants to Canada and telling stories in a way that challenges the western gaze. She is a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Canada (CRPO).

Previously, she served as Director at The Citizens Archive of Pakistan, connecting thousands of children across India, Pakistan and the U.S. and documenting hundreds of oral histories of the Partition generation. She also served as Director at the Association for the Development of Pakistan, leading their education sector projects in rural and urban Pakistan, and as Head of Fellowships at Code for Pakistan, where she continues to service as Vice President – Fellowships, leading programs that foster civic engagement and improve public service delivery. Between 2013-2019, Anam also taught Sociology, Development Studies and Global Perspectives to high school students. She has previously mentored and taught young writers at the Summer Institute, International Writing Program (University of Iowa), and serves on the advisory board for Project Dastaan.

Anam is an Asia 21 Young Leader and is currently based in Toronto.