Zubair Ahmad

Zubair Ahmad grew up in the historic Mohalla Krishan Nagar neighbourhood of Lahore, with his ancestors hailing from pre-partition Batala, District Gurdaspur, Punjab. In 1984, he earned his MA in English from the University of the Punjab, Lahore. He retired in 2018 as an Associate Professor of English Literature from the Old Islamia College. Zubair has been a passionate advocate for Punjabi language, literature, and culture in Pakistan. He is the author of three outstanding short story collections: ‘Meenh Boohay te Barrian,’ ‘Kabootar Banarey Te Galian,’ and ‘Panni Di Kandh,’ as well as two books of poetry and a literary criticism book. In 2014, ‘Kabootar Banarey Te Galian’ received the inaugural Dhahan Prize in the Shahmukhi script, and ‘Panni Di Kandh’ was a 2020 Dhahan Prize Finalist Award recipient from Canada. Zubair’s Punjabi stories were translated by Anne Murphy and published in 2022 by Athabasca University Press, Canada, under the title ‘Grieving for Pigeons: Twelve Stories of Lahore.’ The Pakistani edition was released by Readings, Lahore, one of the largest online resources in Pakistan. In 1997, he founded Kitab Trinjan, the first exclusive non-commercial, non-profit Punjabi bookshop, which continues to operate. He played a pivotal role in establishing the first Punjabi school in Lahore in 1984. Currently, he publishes and edits an annual magazine called ‘Baran Maah’ with England-based writer Amarjit Chandan. Zubair’s literary journey is deeply rooted in his childhood experiences. He says, ‘Listening daily to my mother’s pre-partition stories, I was subconsciously born a writer. I dug that writer, found it, and started authoring stories that covered my life, the people, the surroundings, and the city of Lahore. Lahore is in me, and I am in Lahore.’ He also chairs The Dhahan Prize Advisory Committee. https://dhahanprize.com/about/advisory-committee/