<DIV>Described by Stuart Hall as "one of the most riveting and important films produced by a black writer in recent years," <i>My Beautiful Laundrette</i> was a significant production for its director Stephen Frears and its writer Hanif Kureshi. Christine Geraghty considers it a crossover film: between television and cinema, realism and fantasy, and as an independent film targeting a popular audience. She deftly shows how it has remained an important and timely film in the 1990s and early 2000s, and her exploration of the film itself is an original and entertaining achievement.<br></div> <DIV><b>Hanif Kureishi</b> was born in 1954 and brought up in Bromley, Kent. His plays include <i>Outskirts</i>, <i>Sleep With Me</i>, and a version of <i>Mother Courage</i>. His films include <i>My Beautiful Laundrette</i>, <i>Sammy and Rose Get Laid</i>, and <i>London Kills Me</i>. His novels include <i>The Buddha of Suburbia</i> and <i>The Black Album</i>. Kureishi is also a co-editor of <i>The Faber Book of Pop</i>.<br></div> <DIV>Hanif Kureishi's groundbreaking 1984 screenplay for <i>My Beautiful Laundrette</i> received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. His bestselling first novel, <i>The Buddha of Suburbia</i>, won the Whitbread Prize for Best First Novel in 1990 and was made into a highly successful drama series by the BBC in 1993. In addition to his screenplays and fiction, he is also the author of several poplar essays which are collected here, together with <i>My Beautiful Laundrette</i>, in a single volume for the first time.<br><br>This remarkable collection shows the emergence of a major writer who is equally at home in a variety of forms and subjects. Kureishi is one of Britain's most enduring literary talents, and this is the ideal introduction to his work.<br></div> <DIV>"[Kureishi] is still almost incapable of creating a dull or hackneyed character. This is such a rarity for younger British male authors that it needs to be shouted from the rooftops. Add to that his fresh vision of empire's aftermath and his flair for pop culture, and it's plain to see why Colin MacCabe hails him as 'one of the great talents of the past 25 years.'"&#8212;<b><i>Observer</i></b><br></div>