Bilal Tanweer
Bilal Tanweer is a writer and translator. His novel The Scatter Here Is Too Great won the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and was shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature and the Chautauqua Prize. His previous translations include works of Muhammad Khalid Akhtar, Ibn-e Safi, Sa’adat Hasan Manto, Bilal Hassan Minto, Sarmad Sehbai, and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. With Pauline Fan, he curated works from across South and Southeast Asia for Commonwealth’s addastories.org. His writings have appeared in Granta, The New York Times, Dawn, and The Caravan. He lives and teaches in Lahore.
Poetry (translation)
For a Snack Bar in Lahore
Come, let us drape our eyes
with hands
of false consolations
Like a true poet, Sarmad’s work is animated with currents of deep cultural codes, symbols from classical Urdu poetry, as well as images pulled from everyday city life – all elements that resist direct translation.
…Sherdil has managed to stay true to the original while turning what I read as a desperate plea into a sensual invitation.