Asif Farrukhi

Asif Farrukhi was a Pakistani writer, translator, and literary critic active in both Urdu and English. He was also a public health expert and polyglot. He translated books from English into Urdu, as well as from Sindhi to Urdu and English. His collections of vernacular Pakistani writers translated in English are considered critical anthologies. From 2000 to 2020, he was the editor and publisher of the acclaimed Urdu literary journal Dunyazad. He also founded the Scheherazade Press in 1999 to showcase new writings in Urdu. He compiled several English anthologies of writing from Pakistan. In 2010, he co-founded the Karachi Literature Festival, in collaboration with the Oxford University Press and the British Council. Following creative differences, in 2019, he co-founded the Adab Literature Festival as an alternative literary space. He worked as an associate professor and director of the Arzu Centre for Regional Languages and Humanities at Habib University. He was awarded the Prime Minister's award for literature by the Pakistan Academy of Letters in 1997 and the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (Medal of Excellence) by the President of Pakistan in 2006. He died of heart failure in Karachi on 1 June 2020.