2014 Dhahan Prize Finalist, 2020 Dhahan Prize Finalist

Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan

Zubair Ahmad holds an MA in English and Post Graduate Diploma in English Language Teaching from Punjab University, Lahore. He is a former Associate Professor of English literature from Old Islamia College and a passionate proponent for Punjabi language, literature and culture in Pakistan. He has authored three fine short story collections – Meenh Boohay te Barrian, Kabootar Banarey Te Galian and Panni Di Kandh; a book of poetry Dumm Yaad Na Keeta; and a book of literary criticism Sahitak Alochana Vichar Lekh. In 2014 Kabootar Banerey Te Galian was awarded the best Punjabi fiction of the year in Pakistan by the Khardarposh Trust. The same book received the inaugural Dhahan Prize in the Shahmukhi script. ‘Grieving for Pigeons’ an English translation of the same by Prof. Anne Murphy has been published in Canada. He ran a non-profit Punjabi bookstore from 1997-2009 and reopened it last year. He now publishes and edits an annual magazine Baran Maah with England based writer Amarjit Chandan. Ahmad says of his literary journey, “Listening daily to my mother’s pre-partition stories, I was subconsciously born a writer. I dug that writer, found it and started writing stories that covered my life, the people, the surroundings and the city of Lahore. Lahore is in me and I am in Lahore”.