Author Hanif Kureishi hospitalised in Rome

Author Hanif Kureishi has been hospitalised in Rome, it emerges today.

The British-Pakistani author of “The Buddha of Suburbia”, a 1990 global hit, in a thread of tweets shared an update on his health condition.

Hanif Kureishi is reported to be hospitalised in Rome after sustaining an injury and he hasn’t been able to move his arms or legs since the incident that happened a few days before the new year.

Hanif Kureishi says he is unsure if he will be able to walk again in the future after his fall in Rome.

According to him, Hanif is unable to make phone calls or even scratch his nose – something he describes as ‘humiliating’.

“I should like you to know that on Boxing Day, in Rome, after taking a comfortable walk to the Piazza del Popolo, followed by a stroll through the Villa Borghese, and then back to the apartment, I had a fall,” the Oscar-nominated screenwriter and dramatist stated.

Dear followers,

I should like you to know that on Boxing Day, in Rome, after taking a comfortable walk to the Piazza del Popolo, followed by a stroll through the Villa Borghese, and then back to the apartment, I had a fall.

— Hanif Kureishi (@Hanifkureishi) January 6, 2023

“I believed I was dying. I believed I had three breaths left,” he said describing the incident and added that he realised he had lost coordination between his mind and body. “I had become divorced from myself.”

The 68-year-old went on to add that he saw “Mo Salah score against Aston Villa” and sipped some bear after which he felt dizzy and passed out. He woke up “in a pool of blood” with his wife beside him.

“From the floor, my wife heard my frantic shouting. She saved my life and kept me calm. For a few days, I was profoundly traumatised, altered, and unrecognisable to myself. I am in the hospital. I cannot move my arms and legs,” he added in a tweet.

I then experienced what can only be described a scooped, semi-circular object with talons attached scuttling towards me. Using what was left of my reason, I saw this was my hand, an uncanny object over which I had no agency.

— Hanif Kureishi (@Hanifkureishi) January 6, 2023

It seemed like a miserable and ignoble way to die. Every evening before I go upstairs, put on the dishwasher, open the window and join my wife, I wonder how more opportunities there will be for these domestic felicities.

— Hanif Kureishi (@Hanifkureishi) January 6, 2023

I cannot scratch my nose, make a phone call or feed myself. As you can imagine, this is both humiliating, degrading and a burden for others. I’ve had an operation on my spine and have shown minor improvements in the last few days.

— Hanif Kureishi (@Hanifkureishi) January 6, 2023

At the moment, it is unclear whether I will ever be able to walk again, or whether I’ll ever be able to hold a pen, if there is any assistance that I would be grateful for, it would be with regard to voice assisted hardware and software, which will allow me to watch, write –

— Hanif Kureishi (@Hanifkureishi) January 6, 2023

and begin work again, and continue some kind of half life.

If you have any ideas about how you might help, please comment below and my son will be in touch.

I want to thank all my readers for their love and support over the years.

Love Hanif

— Hanif Kureishi (@Hanifkureishi) January 6, 2023

Here at Oyeyeah, we wish him a swift recovery.

Kureishi is known best for taking on difficult and taboo subjects in his work, particularly around relationships and minority groups.

His Buddha Of Suburbia in 1990, a semi-autobiographical piece of work which was about a bisexual British South Asian character, was adapted for a BBC television series, soundtracked by David Bowie.