Musharraf Ali Farooqi (born 26 July 1968) is a Pakistani-Canadian author, translator, and storyteller. Farooqi was among the five writers shortlisted for Asia's most prestigious literary prize in 2012. In addition to his fiction and translation projects, he is working on establishing an Urdu language publishing program specializing in children's literature and classics. He founded the publishing house KITAB (2012), launched the online index Urdu Thesaurus (2016), and designed the interactive storytelling and reading initiative STORYKIT Program (2016). These three projects have been integrated in an activity-based learning program for children. ''The Merman and the Book of Power: A Qissa'' is his newest work.

Biography

Farooqi received his early education in Hyderabad, at

St Bonaventure's High School St Bonaventure's High School (formerly St Bonaventure's Boys' High School) is a private Catholic primary and secondary school, located on Foujdari Road in Saddar, Hyderabad in the Sindh province of Pakistan. The school has another branch in the ...

. He later attended Model School and College in

Hyderabad, Sindh Hyderabad ( Sindhi and ur, ; ) is a city and the capital of Hyderabad Division in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the second-largest city in Sindh, and the eighth largest in Pakistan. Founded in 1768 by Mian Ghulam Shah Kalhoro of th ...

and, afterwards,

NED University of Engineering and Technology The NED University of Engineering & Technology is a public university located in the urban area of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. It is one of the oldest and best engineering universities in Pakistan, acknowledged for its best teaching practices an ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

for three years, though he did not finish his degree. Farooqi is the author of the novel ''Between Clay And Dust'', which was shortlisted for the

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 ...

. His earlier novel, ''The Story of a Widow'', was shortlisted for the 2011

DSC Prize for South Asian Literature The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is an international literary prize awarded annually to writers of any ethnicity or nationality writing about South AsiaNote: South Asia for the purposes of the prize is defined as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka ...

and considered for the 2010

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...

. ''Rabbit Rap'' is a

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mo ...

for

young adults A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

. His children's books includes the collection ''The Amazing Moustaches of Moochhander the Iron Man and Other Stories'', illustrated by Michelle Farooqi, which was shortlisted for the India ComicCon Award in the "Best Publication for Children" category, and the picture book ''The Cobbler's Holiday: or Why Ants Don't Wear Shoes''. Farooqi's translation of the 1871 version of ''Dastan-e Amir Hamza'' (''

Adventures of Amir Hamza The ''Hamzanama'' (Persian Language, Persian/Urdu: ''Hamzenâme'', Epic of Hamza) or ''Dastan-e-Amir Hamza'' (Persian/Urdu: ''Dâstâne Amir Hamze'', "Adventures of Amir Hamza") narrates the legendary exploits of Amir Hamza, or Hamza ibn Abdul ...

'') by Ghalib Lakhnavi and

Abdullah Bilgrami Abdullah may refer to: * Abdullah (name), a list of people with the given name or surname * Abdullah, Kargı, Turkey, a village * ''Abdullah'' (film), a 1980 Bollywood film directed by Sanjay Khan * '' Abdullah: The Final Witness'', a 2015 Pakis ...

was published in October 2007. He published the first book of a projected 24-volume translation of the world's first magical fantasy epic, '' Hoshruba'', in 2009. A selection from his translation of contemporary Urdu poet

Afzal Ahmed Syed Afzal Ahmed Syed (افضال احمد سيد) 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, ...

's poetry was published by the

Wesleyan University Press Wesleyan University Press is a university press that is part of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The press is currently directed by Suzanna Tamminen, a published poet and essayist. History and overview Founded (in its present for ...

Poetry Series in 2010.

Awards and honours

*Finalist, 2012

, for the novel ''Between Clay and Dust'' *2011

PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant The PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants were established in 2003 by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) following a gift of $730,000 by Michael Henry Heim, a noted literary translator. Heim believed that there was a 'dismayingly low number of ...

for ''Hoshruba: The Prisoner of Batin'', translated from the Urdu *Finalist, 2011

DSC Prize DSC may refer to: Academia * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dalton State C ...

, for ''The Story of a Widow'' *Fellow, Harvard South Asia Institute, Spring 2017 *Former Member Executive Committee, Board of Governors of the Archaeology and Literary Heritage Endowment Fund of the Government of Pakistan *PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant 2011 for Hoshruba

Bibliography

Novels

*''Between Clay and Dust: A Novel'' (Aleph Book Company, 2012) *''The Story of a Widow'' (

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...

, 2008) *''Salar Jang's Passion'' (

Summersdale Publishers Summersdale Publishers Ltd (often simply Summersdale) is an English independent publishing firm of non-fiction. The company is based in Chichester, West Sussex. Founded in 1990 by Stewart Ferris and Alastair Williams, it has since published ov ...

, UK, 2002;

HarperCollins India HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Co ...

, 2001)

Qissas

* ''The Merman and the Book of Power -'' (Aleph Book Company, 2019) * ''The Jinn Darazgosh'' (2010)

Children's fiction

* ''Monster Folktales from Pakistan -'' * ''Tik-Tik: The Master of Time'' – children's novel * ''Rabbit Rap'' ( Viking/Penguin Books India, 2012) – an illustrated novel with art by Michelle Farooqi * ''The Amazing Moustaches of Moochhander the Iron Man & Other Stories'' (Puffin India, 2011) – illustrated by Michelle Farooqi * ''The Cobbler's Holiday: or Why Ants Don’t Wear Shoes'' (

Roaring Brook Press A roar is a type of animal vocalization that is deep and resonating. Many mammals have evolved to produce roars and other roar-like vocals for purposes such as long-distance communication and intimidation. These include various species of big cat ...

, 2008)

Translations

*''Rococo and Other Worlds – Selected Poetry of

'' (Wesleyan University Press Poetry Series, 2010) *''The Beast'' (Tranquebar Press/Westland Books, 2010) – translation of Syed Muhammad Ashraf's Urdu novella ''Numberdar ka Neela'' *''Hoshruba: The Land and the Tilism'' (2009) – originally published (1883–1893) in Urdu as '' Tilism-e Hoshruba'' by

Muhammad Husain Jah Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mono ...

and Ahmed Husain Qamar *''The Adventures of Amir Hamza'' (2007) – originally written in Urdu by Ghalib Lakhnavi *''The Adventures of Amir Hamza'' *''Mouse Pickle'' (2012) *''Three Sindhi Folktales (2014)'' * ''Chhabili the Innkeeper'' * ''The Ingenious Farkhanda and the Two Conditions'' * ''The Adventures of a Trickster Woman'' * ''The Adventures of a Soldier'' * ''The Victim of Malice'' * ''The Qissa of Azar Shah and Saman Rukh Bano'' * قصّہ آذر شاہ و سمن رُخ بانو * قصّۂ مقتولِ جفا * قصّہ شہزادی فرخندہ کا * قصّہ ایک عیّارہ کا

Folktale retellings in Urdu

* پیٹو ریچھ اور شاندار کھچڑی 2019 * بینگن شہزادی 2019 * مٹریا اور پٹریا 2019 * جوں چٹ پٹ 2018 * پودنا اور پودنی 2017

Essays

* * * *

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farooqi, Musharraf Ali Canadian people of Pakistani descent Pakistani novelists Pakistani scholars Pakistani translators People from Hyderabad District, Pakistan Translators from Urdu Urdu–English translators 1968 births Living people NED University of Engineering & Technology alumni Writers from Karachi Canadian writers of Asian descent