Friday 28 June 2019

#BookReview : Kaifi Azmi: Poems, Nazms New & Selected Translations edited & translated by Sudeep Sen



Kaifi Azmi: Poems, Nazms is a perfect gift and homage to the great poet's 100th birth centenary celebrations. This specially curated volume contains 50 carefully chosen poems from his lifetime's immense oeuvre. It brings together some of the finest translators, poets, scholars, filmmakers - HUSAIN MIR ALI, BAIDAR BAKHT, SUMANTRA GHOSAL, PRITISH NANDY, SUDEEP SEN (also the editor) - as a team to produce this stunning bilingual English-Hindi collection. In addition, the book contains a selection of rare archival photographs of the life and times of Kaifi Azmi going back to his childhood. This centenary bilingual English - Hindi volume is a collector's edition.

Kaifi Azmi: Poems, Nazms New & Selected Translations is a collection of different works of the great Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi, it has been edited & translated by Sudeep Sen & published by Bloomsbury India. Sudeep Sen is widely recognised as a major new generation voice in world literature. He has written, edited & translated several books & have been awarded numerous time. He is the editorial director of AARK ARTS and the editor of Atlas.

I think I have said it multiple times that I don’t read much poetry and it is very rare for me to pick such a book. Though I like to listen to Nazms & poems dealing with intense topics, I try to skip most of the romantic ones as they just don’t appeal to me. Kaifi Azmi is a well known poet & there possibly couldn’t be anyone who won’t know him hence when I came to know that his works have been translated, I thought of giving it a try. Though I started hesitantly at first but I have to admit that after that I sailed through the book smoothly. Get it here to read it now,
Poetry is a tricky genre in itself, there is no sure shot recipe to success. One poetry can please a crowd while the same can be unimpressive for another. But there have been a few marvels in India who have been able to mesmerize masses & Kaifi Azmi was one of them. This book is a collection of few of his memorable works thoughtfully published in both Hindi & English. The translator did a wonderful work not just translating the words but more importantly the soul of the nazms & poems. I honestly can’t think of anything which could’ve been better. A must read.


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