On February 16, Daniyal Mueenuddin stepped back onto the Circle for the first time since graduating from Groton School in 1981, and over the next 24 hours he transfixed students, faculty, and friends with his brilliant storytelling.
Daniyal’s stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Zoetrope, The Best American Short Stories 2008 (selected by Salman Rushdie), and the PEN/O.Henry Prize Stories 2010. He is the 2010 winner of the Story Prize, an annual book award for short story collections, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and the LA Times Book Prize. For a number of years, Daniyal practiced law in New York. He and his wife, Cecilia, now live on a farm in Pakistan’s southern Punjab.
In addition to reading selections from his works, Daniyal visited numerous classes and gave an inspiring Chapel Talk on Friday morning that encouraged students to be themselves, pursue their dreams, and step outside of their comfort zones. While visiting one of Rev. Beth Humphrey’s Sacred Studies classes, Daniyal informed students about the role and nature of Islam in Pakistan; in Nancy Hughes’ and John Capen’s English classes, he regaled students with exciting and amusing anecdotes about becoming a writer. Brian O’Neill ’12, a student in Tom Lamont’s Modern India course, described Daniyal’s visit to that class as perhaps the “most intense 45 minutes of class” he had experienced while at Groton School.
Daniyal’s formmate, Brian Rogers '81, generously organized a dinner in honor of Daniyal that was attended by several dozen alumnae who then came to Daniyal’s evening talk in the Schoolhouse.