Biography

Anisur Rahman (b. 1978) is a poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, journalist, literary critic and translator. He is a member of The Swedish Writers’ Union and Honourary Member of The Swedish PEN. He sits in the program and reference group for the Swedish Literature Centre in Uppsala (www.litteraturcentrum.se). Anisur Rahman has recently been awarded with the 2013 Prince Wilhelm Scholarship (184-1965) from the Swedish PEN. Anisur, debuted in 2003 with the poetry collection “Empty Glass”, has command in writing in Bengali, English and Swedish. He currently lives in Uppsala, Sweden, where he was also a writer in residency (2009-2011). He has been educated in Bengali and English language, literature, history, film and theatre studies from the University of Dhaka and the University of Stockholm. He has also been skilled in Scandinavian languages. He works with creative writing literary programmes through the Study Promotion Association in Sweden (Studiefrämjandet). Sex årstider [Six Seasons] is Rahman's first collection of poems in Swedish. As a playwright, Anisur has done work for theatres in Bangladesh, Norway and Sweden, Swedish Radio and NRK Norwegian Radio. Smockadoll and Dracopis Press are his international publishers. In Bangladesh, Sweden, Norway and the USA, he has authored a number of books in both prose and poetry. He has translated the works of a number of classic writers like Franz Kafka, Henrik Ibsen and Tomas Tranströmer into Bengali. He is now translating some Nordic poets into Bengali. He was the writer in residency at Voksenåsen, the Swedish Centre for Culture and Conference, in Oslo and the Centre for Ibsen Studies at the University of Oslo in 2011. He was also a guest speaker to lecture on Ibsen’s poetry at the University of Sor Juana (Universidad del Claustro da Sor Juana) in Mexico City in 2006. He contributes prose and poetry to different journals in various countries for instance Bangladesh, Finland, Norway and Sweden notably Upsala Nya Tidning, The Weekly Holiday, and The Finland Times. He is also a curator and initiator for several literary festivals in Uppsala County, for instance, the Mother Language International Poetry Festival, the Fristad festival, the Spring Literary Festival, the Winter Literary Festival, Poetry on Train, Poetry on Bus and Cycle Poetry. His literary initiatives have been included in the Regional Cultural Plan 2013-2014 for Uppsala County and got the attention of the Swedish Arts Council, the Swedish Academy and the Nordic Cultural Fund.