Anisur Rahman

Anisur Rahman is a bilingual poet in English and Urdu, translator and literary critic. Formerly a Professor of English at Jamia Millia Islamia, a Central University in New Delhi, and Senior Advisor at Rekhta Foundation, the world’s largest website on Urdu language, literature, and culture, he has worked and published in the areas of comparative, translation, postcolonial, and Urdu studies. He has to his credit six books authored by him, five edited/co-edited volumes, and two collections of Urdu poetry in English translation. His most recent publications include Earthenware: Sixty Poems (Rubric Publishing, 2018), In Translation: Positions and Paradigms (Orient Blackswan, 2019), Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi: The Wonderful World of Urdu Ghazals (HarperCollins, 2019) and Socioliterary Cultures in South Asia (Niyogi Books, 2019). Rahman has been a Shastri Fellow at the University of Alberta, Canada (2001-2002) and a Visiting Scholar at Purdue University, USA (2007).

Praise for books by Anisur Rahman

‘Anisur Rahman brings us, literally and metaphorically to Hazaar Rang Shaairi which is by all means the first comprehensive selection of Urdu poetry in English translation…This book does not merely contain translations of poems but to apply Croce’s view, these translations, in and of themselves, are original, valuable works of art.’-Carlo Coppola, Professor Emeritus of Urdu-Hindi, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Oakland University, USA

‘This fascinating anthology spans over five centuries of Urdu poetry. It focusses on Urdu nazm which represents our age better than the ghazal. It also bears out Rahman’s keen insight into the nature of Urdu nazm and his critical understanding of its different forms. This wide-ranging work would bring to its readers a fair understanding of Urdu’s richness and the trends of its poetry through ages. I must say that this volume would prove a milestone in the history of Urdu poetry.’-Shamin Hanfi, Professor Emeritus of Urdu, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi