A curtain-raiser for my new book on Dr Rashid Jahan

The Caravan has published this article by Aamer Hussein about my new book on Dr Rashid Jahan. Called A Rebel and Her Cause: The Life and Work of Dr Rashid Jahan, it has been published by Women Unlimited and is expected out by mid-February...
http://caravanmagazine.in/books/good-doctor

Jashn-e-Urdu, Patna, 4-5 Jan 2014

Dear Friends and Well-wishers of Urdu,

  I take great pleasure in informing you that the Govt of Bihar is organising an Urdu Literary Festival, called Jashn-e-Urdu, on 4-5 January 2014
in Patna. I have conceptualised and coordinated the festival on behalf of Hindustani Awaaz, a small organisation that I have been running since 2002 to position and promote Hindustani zubaan and tehzeeb. Please join us in Patna as we ring in the new year with this Jashn-e-Urdu.

The venue is Premchand Rangshala; the events include panel discussions, film screenings, book mela, ghazal gayaki by Radhika Chopra and a play by Tom Alter. All are welcome. The festivities begin on 4th Jan from 11.00 am onwards. The details are as follows:
 

Jashn-e-Urdu

Organised by the Govt. of Bihar, 4-5 January 2014, Patna

4 January 2014, Saturday

Session I: Inaugural Session (11.30 am-12.30 pm)

·         Welcome Address

·         Introductory Remarks

·         Chief Minister’s Address

·         Vote of Thanks

Inauguration of Kitab Mela by the Chief Minister Mr Nitish Kumar

Lunch (1.00-2.00 pm)

Session II: Shabab se Inquilab Tak: Urdu Shayri ke Badalte Andaaz (2.00-3.30 pm)

            Moderator: Anwar Pasha

·         Kaleem Ajis

·         Razi Ahmad

·         Alimullah Hali

·         Aslam Azad

Tea (3.30-4.00 pm)

Session III: Bihar Mein Afsane ki Rivayat: Fasane se Afsane Tak ka  Safar (4.00-5.00 pm)

Moderator: Khurshid Akram

·         Shafi Javed

·         Shamoil Ahmad

·         Abdus Samad

·         Zakiya Mashhadi

Cultural programme: Sham-e-Ghazal by Dr Radhika Chopra, at Premchand Rangshala, Rajendra Nagar, Patna

5 January 2014, Sunday

Session IV: Mussarrat Se Baseerat Tak (9.30 -11.00 am)

Moderator: Mosharraf Alam Zauqui

·         Fakhruddin Arfi

·         Ashraf  Fareed

·         Khursheed Akbar

·         Moshtaque A Noorie

Tea: 11.00-11.30

Session V: Sheri Nashist

(Names not in order of sequence) KaleemAjiz, Noman Shauque, Alam Khurshid, Khalid Ebadi, Khursheed Talab, Rashid Taraz, Razi Ahmad Tanha, Jowsar Ayagh, Ain Tabish, Shamim Quasmi, Tariq Mateen, Jamal Owaisi, KehkashanTabassum , Quasim Khursheed, Abhay Kumar Bebak, Sultan Akhtar

Lunch: 1.00-2.00 pm

Session VI: Hindi-Urdu-Hindustani: Zubaan ke Buniyadi Masail (2.00-3.30 pm)

Moderator: Khurshid Akram

·         Hussainul Haq

·         Alok Dhanwa

·         Shafi Mashhadi

·         Razi Ahmad Tanha

Cultural Programme: Maulana Azad: A play by Tom Alter, produced and directed by M Sayeed Alam

New Urdu Writings: reviews and newspaper articles

Here are some newspaper reports about New Urdu Writings:

http://tntmagazine.in/culture/book-on-contemporary-urdu-writings-from-india-pakistan/

http://tribune.com.pk/story/633859/book-launch-new-urdu-writings-from-india-and-pakistan/

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/urdu-across-the-border/1196988/

http://www.kashmirtimes.in/newsdet.aspx?q=25512#.Uo12-h5vkto.email

http://www.sunday-guardian.com/young-restless/reviving-the-legacy-of-urdu-through-indo-pak-literature

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-11-20/books/44283773_1_stories-new-book-language

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCXKX0-QYOk&feature=youtube_gdata

http://www.themetrognome.in/columns/enough-said/as-the-book-launch-season-approaches

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140105/spectrum/book3.htm

http://www.asianage.com/books/writing-literary-borders-286

invite to the launch of my new book, 18 nov

Invite for Hindustani Awaaz event

All RUMI lovers, listen up...

Fahmida Riaz, feminist, poet and writer, will speak about Rumi in our monthly series 'Why It Speaks to Me'.

Her talk will be followed by a Q&A session moderated by Subodh Lal.

Organised by Hindustani Awaaz in collaboration with the Attic.
Date: Thursday, 31 Oct
Time: 6.30 pm sharp
Venue: The Attic, Regal Building, Connaught Place, New Delhi

Please join us for Tea at 6.00 pm.

My New Book, NEW URDU WRITINGS: FROM INDIA & PAKISTAN

Another new book, a collection of Urdu short stories, edited by me. Called NEW URDU WRITINGS: FROM INDIA AND PAKISTAN, it has 30 stories reflecting the best of contemporary Urdu fiction. Published by Westland, it will be formally launched in November. Meanwhile, it is available on Flipkart and other online stores as well as major bookstores in India. Here is a link:
http://www.flipkart.com/new-urdu-writings-india-pakistan/p/itmdp45w4fk9trfy?pid=9789383260379&otracker=from-search&srno=t_6&query=rakshanda+jalil&ref=cf7e648a-8a7d-4036-9a4f-20cf09be56a6

New Urdu Writings from India & Pakistan (Paperback) Price: Rs.328

This could easily be for audiences who read in both languages: Hindi and English. Further with Sufism coming up on the charts in music and films, this anthology could well become a favorite with those who are passionate about the sensibilities in the subcontinent: India, Pakistan and even Bangladesh. The sense of a great literary tradition and emotions which are similar. As the editor of this collection, Rakhshanda Jalil makes it amply clear in the Introduction It will make very little difference if you read this book from back to front or the other, more conventional way, around and puts the 30 stories from India and Pakistan in the context of a shared language involving similar emotions. If in the Mourner of the Feet, an itinerant shoe witnesses an adulterous wife with merciless hips conducting her marital life, in Revulsion a young boy chances upon the sexual escapades of an ageing maid with young servant boys, almost mirroring the desperation of the household ; in Joginder Pauls story, the futility of war between countries throws up a tragic-comic situation involving the picture of a girl child, even as a father awaiting his sons arrival on an airplane fervently prays for his co-travellers in Mansha Yads story; Laila in Jeelani Banos Empty Bottles is urban affluent and decidedly rejects her poetic lover for the comforts in her parents home and Sonu in Tarannum Riyazs City struggles to care for his infant sister and a dead mother in their fortified and spacious flat; Farzana blames her burqa for her transgression involving the murder of her children while Noor Bano is forcibly married to the Holy Quran and defiantly.

My new book, Excelsior: The Story of Wynberg-Allen School

Here is the cover of my new book, Excelsior: the Story of Wynberg-Allen School, published by Niyogi Books. The book celebrates the history of this 125-year old institution and revisits the legacy of Anglo-Indian schools to the Indian school system: