Afzal Ahmed Syed
Afzal Ahmed Syed is a contemporary Urdu poet and translator, known for his mastery of both classical and modern Urdu poetic expression.
Born in Ghazipur, India, in 1946, Afzal Ahmed Syed has lived since 1976 in Karachi, Pakistan, where he worked as an entomologist until his retirement in 2005. He is the author of the modern nazm collections چھينی ہوئ تاريخ, دو زبانوں ميں سزاۓ موت, and روکوکو اور دوسری دنيائيں. Another collection of classical ghazals is titled خيمہُ سياہ.
Syed’s poetry was anthologized in An Evening of Caged Beasts: Seven Postmodernist Urdu Poets. The Wesleyan University Press Poetry Series has published a selection of Syed's poetry in translation, titled Rococo and Other Worlds in 2010, which features poetry from his three Urdu nazm collections.
Syed has translated a wide and important body of works by contemporary poets, playwrights and novelists. He was one of the first Urdu translators of Gabriel García Márquez and Jean Genet. His work has been widely published in leading Urdu literary periodicals such as Shabkhoon, Aaj, and Dunyazad. He currently teaches at Habib University.
Original works
In Urdu
- چھينی ہوئ تاريخ: نظميں - An Arrogated Past
- خيمہُ سياہ: غزليات - The Dark Pavilion
- دو زبانوں ميں سزاۓ موت: نظميں - Death Sentence in Two Languages
- روکوکو اور دوسری دنيائيں : نظميں - Rococo and Other Worlds
In English translation
Rococo and Other Worlds: Selected Poetry of Afzal Ahmed Syed, Translated from Urdu by Musharraf Ali FarooqiTranslations by Afzal Ahmed Syed
Poetry
Miroslav Holub, Yehuda Amichai, Dunya Mikhail, Tadeusz Borowski, Zbigniew Herbert, Jan Prokop, Tadeusz Rozewicz, Wisława Szymborska, Aleksander Wat, Marin Sorescu, Osip Mandelstam, Orhan VeliFiction
Gabriel García Márquez, Chronicle of A Death Foretold.Novels
Musharraf Ali Farooqi, ''Between Clay and Dust''Plays
Jean Genet, The Maids.Goran Stefanovski, ''Sarajevo: Tales from a City''