K. Anis Ahmed

K. Anis Ahmed is a Bangladeshi writer and publisher of the English-language daily newspaper Dhaka Tribuneand Bengali-language online newspaper Bangla Tribune [1] and the literary journal Bengal Lights.[2] Ahmed is the author of two books: a short story collection called Good Night, Mr. Kissinger and a novel, The World in My Hands, published by Random House India. He has been called one of the most significant voices in Bangladesh today.[3]

As an author of short stories and a novel, he is one of the leading proponents of Bangladeshi English literature[4] Along with writers like Tahmima Anam and Maria Chaudhuri, Ahmed is part of a new generation of writers who use English "to connect to the larger corpus of world literature", and as a "rejection of the insularity of contemporary Bangla-language literature."[5]

Career

Ahmed's debut collection of short stories, Good Night, Mr. Kissinger, was published in Bangladesh and launched at the Hay Festival in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2012.[6] An American edition will be published in February 2014. The book has been hailed as a "poignant portrait of a city and the characters that live in the wake of great change" by fellow Bangladeshi writer Tahmima Anam.[7]

Ahmed's first novel, The World in My Hands, was published by Random House India in December 2013. The book is a political satire that charts the fate of two friends – a newspaper editor and a successful property developer – whose relationship is bitterly tested when they find themselves on opposite sides of a crisis that upends their country's social order.[8][9]

According to a January 2014 interview, Ahmed's next novel will be a comedy about foodies in New York.[10]

In addition to his literary career, Ahmed runs Kazi & Kazi Tea Estate Ltd. with his family. Kazi & Kazi Tea Estate is the first USDA and SGS-certified 100% organic tea garden and cooperative in northern Bangladesh that is the single source for the tea company Teatulia. Teatulia tea is distributed in Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, the United States, and will soon be available in Japan.[11]

His first book, a collection of stories entitled Good Night, Mr. Kissinger, was published in 2012 by The University Press Limited.[12] His first published story, "Forty Steps," appeared in the Minnesota Review (Spring 2000) was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.[13] Ahmed has also written commentary for the Wall Street Journal Asia and Newsweek International/Daily Beast, as well as a number of Bangladeshi newspapers and magazines.

He is a co-founder of Bengal Lights, an English literary journal based in Dhaka, which publishes both online and in print. Ahmed is also a co-founder of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, and is involved in a range of enterprises.[14]

Ahmed is the Director and CEO of Organics, Retail and Education for Gemcon Group in Dhaka, and is Director of the Kazi and Kazi Tea Estate, Ltd. (KKTE). At KKTE, Ahmed has helped establish the guiding organic values and policies that allowed KKTE to emerge as the first successful organic tea estate in Bangladesh. He personally oversaw the international SGS Organic and USDA Organic certification processes. He is Co-Founder of the Teatulia brand of Kazi and Kazi Tea, which sells in the USA, UK, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Kuwait. Teatulia is the only Bangladeshi tea brand to sell in premium stores around the world, including Whole Foods in the US and Harrods in the UK.[15]

Ahmed studied at Brown, Washington and New York Universities before returning to Bangladesh in 2004. In the USA, Ahmed studied with Edmund White and Stanley Elkin, among others.[16]

Education

K. Anis Ahmed was educated in Dhaka, Brown University, Washington University and New York University.[17]

Selected Works

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.banglatribune.com/
  2. ↑ K Anis Ahmed's novel The World In My Hands launched | The Daily Star thedailystar.net (31 December 2013). Retrieved on 19 January 2014.
  3. ↑ Ziya Us Salam (4 January 2014). "Striking the right balance". The Hindu. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  4. ↑ Q&A: Bengal Lights, Bangladesh’s New Literary Journal | Wall Street Journal India http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/ (9 July 2012). Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  5. ↑ Bangladesh on the World Stage: An Introduction | World Literature Today May 2013 Retrieved on 19 January 2014.
  6. ↑ English-Language Literature Finds Its Place in Bangladesh | The Huffington Post www.huffingtonpost.com (20 November 2012). Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  7. ↑ "Unnamed Press – Home". Ricochetbooks.com. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  8. ↑ name="thedailystar1">Fayeka Zabeen Siddiqua K. Anis Ahmed. "Event | The World in My Hands | Another Footstep in Global Literature". Thedailystar.net. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  9. ↑ "Mihir S Sharma: Writing a country". Business Standard. 13 January 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  10. ↑ "World View : Elle India" (PDF). Media.wix.com. January 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  11. ↑ "A Growing Venture | 15 November 2012 | SUCCESS Magazine | Your Personal Development Resource". Success.com. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
  12. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/9684981/Hay-Dhaka-2012-The-Assassins-Creed.html
  13. ↑ http://www.monsoonletters.com/treasure-trove/kazi-anis-ahmed
  14. ↑ http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2012/11/02/interview.htm
  15. ↑ http://legatum.mit.edu/content/1098
  16. ↑ http://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/post/30667903102/an-interview-with-literary-journal-bengal-lights
  17. ↑ Fayeka Zabeen Siddiqua K. Anis Ahmed. "Event | The World in My Hands | Another Footstep in Global Literature". Thedailystar.net. Retrieved 16 February 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, January 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.