Hanif Kureishi's first play, Soaking the Heat, was performed at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1976. Since then he has enjoyed success as a playwright, screenwriter, novelist and short story writer. His first novel, The Buddha of Suburbia, was published in 1990 to widespread acclaim, and won the Whitbread First Novel Award. He has published also three collections of short stories: Love in a Blue Time, Midnight All Day and The Body and Other Stories.