Urdu Studies Vol. 3, Issue 1, October 2023
English Section
Alamgir Hashmi is an Anglophone poet, translator, and critic. His work has been published in journals and collections worldwide. He has been Professor of English and Comparative Literature at European, American, and Asian universities. He has also served as a judge of the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature. His last major volume of translations from Asian poetry was Your Essence, Martyr (Plainview Imprint, 2011).
Anukriti Pandey is a screenwriter based in Bombay. Having passed the civil services exams, she was an officer in the Indian Railways but resigned from government service and chose to take up writing full time. She writes for web as well as films.
Ayesha Irfan is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi. Her field of specialization is African American literature, with a doctoral dissertation on the works of Toni Morrison. Her MPhil thesis was on Black writer Alex Haley. She translates from Urdu and Hindi.
Hamza Naseer reads and writes in Lahore, Pakistan. He has a B.A. in Philosophy. He was shortlisted for the Jawad-Memorial Prize (2022) for his Urdu-to-English translation of Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi’s short story, Joota. Hamza’s poem, “Crushed Crickets” has appeared in Burnt Pine Magazine and his poem “Mirroring” will appear in the forthcoming The Aleph Review Volume 7.
Junaid Shah Shabir is a graduate student of Literature at the University of Texas at Dallas, USA. His work focuses on questions of memory-making, witnessing, and trauma in postcolonial literature in English. He is also a creative writer, and occasionally attempts translations of Urdu literary pieces into English.
Marcia Hermansen is Professor and Director, Islamic World Studies in the Theology Department, Loyola University, Chicago, United States of America. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Arabic and Islamic Studies. Her graduate training included study of Arabic, Persian, and Urdu though language training in the respective countries. She specializes in Sufism, Islamic thought, Muslims in America, Shah Waliullah, Islam and Muslims in South Asia, and women and gender in Islam. Among her many publications are Muslima Theology: The Voices of Muslim Women Theologians (Peter Lang, 2013); Islam, Religions, and Pluralism in Europe (Springer 2016) and Religious Diversity at School: Educating for New Pluralistic Contexts, (Springer 2021). Hermansen is a Muslim.
M. Aqib is a UGC Junior Research Fellow and Ph.D. candidate at the Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. His Ph.D. title is “Aesthetics of Bilingualism in English Self-Translations of Three Post-Partition Urdu Novels”. His published works include translations from Urdu to English, Urdu ghazals, and two co-written book chapters investigating the interventions of digital technology in Indian poetics.
Saba Mahmood Bashir is a poet, author and a translator. Her first book was a collection of poems, Memory Past (Writers’ Workshop, 2006). Her PhD (IIT, Delhi) on the poetry of Gulzar was published by Harper Collins as I Swallowed the Moon: The Poetry of Gulzar (2013). She has also translated Gulzar’s screenplays of Premchand’s Godaan and Nirmala and Other Stories (Roli Books, 2016) along with other pieces of fiction by Premchand and Manto. Her recent books are Aandhi: Insights into the Film (Harper Collins) and Women of Prey (Speaking Tiger), a translation of selected stories by Manto. Saba was awarded the Reuel International Award for the best book on cinema for Aandhi: Insights into the Film. Saba is an Assistant Professor at the Department of English and CPIO (Exams) at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She is also the Associate Editor of Women’s Link, a gender-based journal. She can be contacted at sbashir@jmi.ac.in
Riyaz Latif is an art and architectural historian primarily centered on premodern Islamicate cultures. He has authored a number of reflective essays pertaining to visual cultures, literary cultures and poetry, and is the co-author of Sultanate Ahmadabad and Its Monuments (2023). He is also a noted poet and translator, with three volumes of Urdu poems and a book of translations from European poets to his credit. His work has been published in reputed literary journals to acclaim. Earlier, he taught at Wellesley College and Vanderbilt University in the USA, and presently, is associate professor at FLAME University in Pune. He has extensively translated Urdu poetry and prose, notably the works of Shafiq Fatima Shera, Sajida Zaidi, Sara Shagufta, Majeed Amjad, Ameeq Hanfi, Mukhtar Siddiqui, Sarwat Hussain, into English.
Sabyn Javeri is the Program Head of Undergraduate Writing at New York University Abu Dhabi. She is the author of Hijabistan (Harper Collins: 2019) and the novel Nobody Killed Her (Harper Collins: 2017) and has edited the first non-fiction collection of essays by Pakistani women Ways of Being: Anthology of Pakistani Women’s Creative Non-Fiction (Women Unlimited: 2023) as well as two multilingual anthologies of student writing titled, ‘The Arzu Anthology of Student Voices’ (HUP: 2019, 2018). Her writings have been published in the Journal of Commonwealth Literature, South Asian Review, The London Magazine, Wasafiri, The Oxonian Review, Asymptote, Trespass, World Literature, amongst other publications. Her short fiction has been widely anthologized and she has won the Oxonian Review short story prize and has been shortlisted for the Tibor Jones, Leaf Books, Adab and Publishing Next awards. She has a Master’s from the University of Oxford and a doctorate from the University of Leicester. Her research interests include postcolonial feminism, South Asian women’s literature, translations and creative writing.
Shama Askari has been associated with the performing arts for the last twenty years. She started her acting career in theatre in 1999, with Tehrik-e-Niswan, and then moved on to television, film, and dramatized readings, performing all over Pakistan as well as India. In 2021, Shama was selected to be a part of the Transforming Narratives – Cultural Leadership Programme supported by the British Council, which provided a platform for collaboration between creatives from UK, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. She completed a project ‘Producers of the Future: From Keighley to Karachi’, led by the Bradford Literature Festival 2021. She worked with the Adab Festival Pakistan and was the Project Director of the festival in 2022. She has worked with Dr Asif Farrukhi compiling and collecting Ibn-e-Sa’id’s work, which was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. A collection of Ibn-e-Sa’id’s work titled, ‘Hiroshima and Other Stories’ was translated into English and published by Lightstone Publishers in 2022. She was the runner-up for the translation award, Jawad Memorial Prize, 2022. She is looking forward to exploring the realm of translations as a means of connecting and communicating with a wider readership.
Syed Kashif is an independent research scholar and translator. He has done his M.A. and M.Phil (Political Science/International Studies) from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He has also done M.A. in Translation Studies from IGNOU, New Delhi. An aspiring literary translator, Syed Kashif translates from Urdu to English and vice-versa. His various translations have been published in Urdu Adab (Delhi), The Wire Urdu (Delhi), Museindia, Mai Bhi Muslim etc. He lives in Chandigarh. He can be reached at kashifrazasabri@gmail.com
Usama Zakir is a passionate poet who deeply loves translation. He is also the founder of @Aexiles, an Instagram blog of Indian Poetry in English Translation that currently features translations of over 25 Urdu and Hindi poets. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia. His areas of interest include Islamic philosophical thought, the contemporary logic of Arab cultural production, the soundscape of Urdu literature and many more intriguing wonders of life and living. As a learner cum teacher, he is undergoing transformation and awaiting emergence.
Urdu Section
Mehmood Hashmi (29.11.1939 – 22.09.2013) was an eminent Urdu litterateur and journalist. He was one of the protagonists of the movement of modernism in Urdu literature. He was a close associate of Shamsur Rahman Farooqui during the initial days of his epoch-making magazine Shab Khūñ. He also played a decisive role in the publication of the literary journals like Saughāt (edited by Mahmood Ayaz), Sha’ūr (edited by Balraj Menra) and Iste’ara (edited by Salahuddin Parwez). Famous Urdu critic Hasan Askari was among his close friends. Hashmi is among those pioneers of Urdu who laid the foundation of modern thought. He was also associated with the magazines like monthly Asia (Karachi) and Tahrīk (Delhi). Renowned for his scathing criticism, Hashmi served AIR, Delhi as its Station Director. He also served the United States Information Service (USIS), and it provided him with an opportunity to translate dozens of books of American literature.
Moinuddin Aqeel is among the most eminent scholars and writers of literature, history, and culture of the Muslims of South Asia and is considered an invaluable academic asset. Professor Aqeel has authored, edited, and compiled over 90 books and 600 articles, both scholarly and academic in English and Urdu languages, and a host of learned papers and research articles in internationally reputed journals, and contributed chapters and papers in encyclopedias and scholarly compendiums. Prof. Aqeel served the University of Karachi as Professor and chairman of Urdu department. He also served as the Director of the Bureau of Composition, Compilation and Translation, University of Karachi. He taught Urdu at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan and University of Oriental Studies, Naples, Italy for several years, and served as Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Literature and Chairman of the Department of Urdu at International Islamic University, Islamabad.
Mushaf Iqbal Tausifi is a reputed octogenarian modernist poet from Hyderabad who superannuated from the post of Director, Geological Survey of India in 2000. He is the recipient of Ghalib Award (2013). Faiza, the first collection of his poetry appeared in 1977. Gumāñ ka Sehra (1994), Dūr Kinārā (2004), and Sitārā ya Āsmān (2012) are the valuable collections of his poetry.
Muztar Majaz is the pen name ofSyed Ghulam Husain Rizwi (13.02.1935 – 19.10.2018). He was a renowned poet and scholar of Hyderabad. He is recognized and appreciated for his translations of Allama Iqbal’s Javed Nāmā, Armughān-e Hijāz, Pas Chāh Bayad Kard, and ruba’is of Payām-e Mashriq. He was himself a modernist poet. Mausam-e Sang, and Ek Sukhan Aur are his poetry collections.
Nasir Abbas Nayyar is currently Professor at the Institute of Urdu Language and Literature, University of the Punjab, Lahore. He is a critic, essayist, columnist and short story writer. Dr. Nayyar’s research interests include Modern and Postmodern Literary Theory, Linguistics, Modern Urdu Literature and Postcolonialism. He has published over a dozen books in Urdu. Matn, Siaq or Tanzur, Urdu Adab kī Tashkīl-e Jadīd, Us ko ik Shakhs Samajhna To Munāsib hī Nahīñ, Mab’ad Nau Abadiat Urdu kay Tanzur Meñ, Saqāftī Shanāḳht aur Ist’emārī Ijrādārī, and Majīd Amjad: Hayāt Sheriat Aur Jamāliyātare some of his most famous books. He was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship by Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst to pursue research on Urdu courses of colonial period at Heidelberg University in 2011.
Qazi Jamal Husain superannuated from the post of Professor in Department of Urdu, Aligarh Muslim University. He served as Professor Emeritus, AMU, during 2017-2018. A noted scholar of Urdu, Professor Husain is also a recipient of Commonwealth Fellowship in the year 1987-88. He was associated with the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London during this fellowship. He has published many critical and insightful papers and several thought-provoking books. He has more than thirty years of teaching and research guiding experience. Jamāliyāt aur Urdu Sha’iri, Tanqīd-o Tābīr, and Urdu Adab kā Tahzībī aur Fikrī Pasmanzar are some of his important books.
Shafiq Fatima Shera (1937-2012) belonged to the group of trend-setter poets, and she is the one whose poetry has its own thematic structure and style. She didn’t assimilate herself with the modernist trend of her age, neither she opted to be part of any literary movement. Her poetry carved its niche. Shafiq Fatima Shera surpasses many of her contemporaries in the matter of originality of theme and style. Her contributions to Urdu poetry were set aside simply due to the reason that she wrote in a language and diction that was ‘difficult to understand’. Her poetry has the richest and most thoughtful blend of imagery and style. She overshadows her contemporaries in poetic style and imagination. The anthology Silsila -e Mukālamāt carries her important poems.
Sikandar Ahmed (27.11.1958 – 05.05.2013) was a senior bank officer by profession. He is renowned for his insightful critical writings on modern literary theories (postmodernism and deconstruction) in Urdu, his critical and evaluative deliberations of modern Urdu fiction and poetry, and most importantly, his unparalleled authority on Urdu prosody. His articles were collected and compiled by his wife, Ghazala Sikander, after his demise. Some of the important books are Mazāmīn-e-Sikandar Ahmed, Tilismāt-e-Arūz, and Naye Tanqīdī Ẓāviye.
Waheed Akhtar (12.08.1934 – 13.12.1996) hailed from Aurangabad, Deccan. He was a prominent modern poet of Urdu. He is also remembered as a great writer, critic, orator, and philosopher. He was also the Editor of Al-Tawhid (English) a journal of philosophy and culture, Islamic Propagation Organization, Tehran, Iran, from May 1984 to April 1987. His prose writings have been compiled in three volumes by Prof. Sarwar-ul Huda. Ali Quli Qarai has compiled his poetry in two volumes.
