In recent years, a host of young, dynamic Bangladeshi writers have embraced writing in English, and are bringing Bangladeshi literature to the world. Among these authors, K. Anis Ahmed founded the Bengal Lights literary journal and the Dhaka Translation Center. Sadaf Saaz, along with co-directors Ahmed and Ahsan Akbar, produces the Dhaka Lit Fest. In addition to them, a number of others, such as Saad Hossain and Abeer Hoque are published in the US and India. Ikhtisad Ahmed reflects the versatility of this new group in his easy travels from fiction to film, theatre to political commentary.
This new generation has grown up in a nation of contested identities: Bangladeshi vs Bengali, Muslim vs Secular, Bengali vs English. During these forty years of independence, the capital Dhaka too has exploded from a sleepy town to an overstuffed megalopolis “ setting the site for the human condition in rare extremis.
The six visiting Bangladeshi authors are here to tell the story of this rapidly evolving new nation.
K Anis Ahmed is the publisher of Dhaka Tribune, a national daily, and Bengal Lights, a literary journal. He is also the founder of the Dhaka Translation Center. He is the author of three works of fiction: The World in My Hands, Good Night, Mr. Kissinger, and Forty Steps. Ahmed was a key organizer and Festival Advisor of the Hay Festival Dhaka and is a Co-Director of the Dhaka Lit Fest. He contributes to international journals such as Guardian, Politico, Daily Beast, Wall Street Journal, Scroll.in, Anandabazar Patrika and World Literature Today. He co-curated special issues on Bangladesh in the literary journals Wasafiri and Granta. Most recently he wrote the opening essay for the Puterbaugh essay series in World Literature Today (December 2015).
Sadaf Saaz is a poet, writer, entrepreneur and women’s rights activist. She co-founded the Hay Festival Dhaka in 2011 and has been a driving force behind the event since its inception. She continues to produce Dhaka Lit Fest a Co-Director. Saaz is based in Dhaka and runs several businesses, including Jatrik, an arts management and travel company. She is the author of a collection of poetry, Sari Reams, published by UPL. She is currently working on a novel.
Ahsan Akbar is the author of The Devil’s Thumbprint, a book of poems, published by Bengal Lights Books. He is a Co-Director of the Dhaka Lit Fest and he is founder and director of Zephyr: Media, a multi-platform arts and media portal based in Mayfair, London. Most recently he guest-edited a Wasafiri special edition on Bangladeshi writing, which will be launched at the DLF 2015.
Saad Z Hossain writes in a niche genre of fantasy, science fiction and black comedy. Due to the stunning unpopularity of his writing he has been forced to work in various industries. This includes drilling holes, making rope, throwing parties, operating an illegal sports book and failing to run a restaurant. His novel, Escape from Baghdad!, was published by Aleph Book Company in India, Unnamed Press in the US, and by Bengal Publications under the title Baghdad Immortals in Bangladesh. His work has also been included in the Apex Book of World Science Fiction 4, as well as the Six Seasons Review.
Munize Manzur completed her B.A. in English Literature from Bryn Mawr College and M.A in Communications from Temple University, Pennsylvania, USA. Her debut anthology “Voices” is a reflection on the contemporary life of people negotiating their way through critical moments of existence. Besides being a columnist for Daily Star and ICE Today Magazine, she was Editor of the Saturday Literary Review, Daily Star. Her second book “Labyrinth”, a collaborative work with renowned photographer Arif Hafiz, celebrates the indefatigable human spirit.
Raised in Dhaka and residing in London, Ikhtisad Ahmed is a human rights lawyer turned writer. The Arts Council-endorsed Dhaka Tribune columnist's critically acclaimed writing credits include poetry collections Cryptic Verses and Requiem, plays The Deliverance of Sanctuary, Esne in Taberna, and MADE, and various commissioned screenplays. His debut short story collection, Yours, Etcetera, is being launched at Dhaka Lit Fest 2015. Absurdism, justice, equality, politics and existentialism are recurring themes in his work as Ikhtisad seeks to give a voice to the oppressed, the marginalised and the forgotten.
