Jamil Ahmad (June 1, 1931 – July 12, 2014) was a Pakistani civil servant, novelist and story writer. He wrote in the English language. He is known for his anthology, ''The Wandering Falcon'' which was short listed for

Man Asian Literary Prize The Man Asian Literary Prize was an annual literary award between 2007 and 2012, given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. It is awarded to writer ...

, widely known as Asia's highest literary award, in 2011. The book was also a finalist for DSC prize for South Asian Literature in 2013. He died on 12 July 2014.

Biography

Jamil Ahmad was born in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, in the erstwhile

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, in 1931. After early education in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, he joined the civil service in 1954, and worked in the

Swat valley Swat District (, ps, سوات ولسوالۍ, ) is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. With a population of 2,309,570 per the 2017 national census, Swat is the 15th-largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prov ...

, a remote

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Provinc ...

area, near Afghan border. During his career, he worked at various remote areas such as the Frontier Province,

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in Geography of Pakistan, south-west of the country close to the ...

, Chaghi, Khyber and Malakand. His experiences in these tribal valley assisted him in his work which was mainly focused on the lives of the tribal villagers. He also served at the Pakistani embassy in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

during the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

invasion of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in 1979. He married Helga whom he met during his London years, who was critical of his early attempts at poetry but diligently tried to promote his work, ''The Wandering Falcon'', which was nominated for

in 2011. The couple had two sons and a daughter at the time of his death.

Work

''The Wandering Falcon'' can either be construed as a short story collection or a novel, based on differing perspectives. The book narrates the story of Tor Baz (the black falcon) and his travails through the remote tribal areas along the Pakistan - Afghan border where he experiences the lives of the ethnic

pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

. The stories travel through the strict code of conduct of the tribals known as ''pashtunwali'', the lawlessness of the land where women are traded as commodity, adultery and anarchism, silhouetted against the Baluch desert landscape. The book received critical acclaim. Jamil Ahmad has also published a short story, ''The Sins of the Mother'', which appeared on ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

112: Pakistan'' in 2010.

References

External links

*
Profile on Penguin

on GoodReads

on Tuesday Book Club

on River Head Books

Interview on Granta audio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad, Jamil 1931 births 2014 deaths Pakistani novelists English-language writers from Pakistan 20th-century novelists Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz