Rashid Askari

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Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari
রাশিদ আসকারী
Rashid Askari updated picture.jpg
Rashid Askari
Director General of Bangla Academy
In office
18 July 2024 10 August 2024
OccupationWriter, fictionist, columnist, university academic, media personality
Signature raashid aaskaariir sbaakssr.png

Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari (born 1 June 1965), known as Rashid Askari, is a writer, columnist, media personality, and an academic in Bangladesh. [1] He was the 12th vice-chancellor of Islamic University, Bangladesh. [2] He served as the Director General of the Bangla Academy for less than a month in 2024. [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Rashid Askari was born in Askarpur, Mithapukur, Rangpur in former East Pakistan in 1965. He obtained Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in English from Dhaka University, and a PhD in Indian English Literature from the University of Poona". [6]

Career

Askari joined as a lecturer in English at Islamic University, Bangladesh in 1990.[ citation needed ] He became promoted as Head of the English department and professor in 2005 and promoted to the position of the dean of the Faculty of Arts. [7] He served with King Khalid University - the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a professor of English for five years (2008-2013). His debut as a writer was marked in 1996 by his book The Dying Homeland. He has written articles, essays and newspaper columns on a variety of themes. [8] He is the editor of Bangladesh's first multilingual international literary magazine, The Archer. [9] He was elected the Secretary General of Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Association for 2014. [10] He was also elected chairman of folklore studies department of the Islamic University in Kushtia". [11] Rashid Askari has been nominated as a part-time member of the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh (UGC). [12] He is working as a member of the international publication and translation sub-committee under "Bangabandhu's Birth Centenary Celebration National Implementation Committee" [13] and translated Sheikh Mujib's 10 January speech delivered at the Race Course into English. [14] He also translated in English Sheikh Mujib's UN speech on 25 September 1974. [15]

He is a peer reviewer and a Quality Assurance (QA) expert nominated by the Quality Assurance Unit of the Government of Bangladesh. [16] "Askari regularly writes columns in various newspapers". [6] "The areas of his academic interest include Modern and Postmodern Fiction, Colonial and Postcolonial Literatures, South-Asian Writing in English, Literary Theories and Creative Writing". [8] In the recent past "Askari has been accorded gold medal for his contribution to advancement of education sector" in Bangladesh. [17] [18] He has also received "Janonetri Sheikh Hasina Award 2019" for his outstanding contribution to education sector, [19] and "won the Dhaka University Alumni News Award 2020". [20]

Writing style

Bangladeshi novelist and critic Syed Manzoorul Islam said of Askari:

He writes witty, racy stories with surprisingly serious undertones. Picking real-life events from the remote areas and the marginal people of the country and weaving them into various fictional forms are the hallmarks of his storytelling. Though not new in a ground-breaking way, his stories are both intense and original. The overall tone of his language is gently sarcastic. [21]

In his short story collection Nineteen Seventy One and Other Stories(2011) "Rashid Askari speaks of a long-ago war, revisiting the age of brutality we emerged free of through beating back the denizens of darkness". [22] "The book contains a dozen of mind-blowing stories mostly based on realistic events that took place either in faraway villages or the bustling metropolis in Bangladesh. However, the regional fictional representation does not evade universal significance." [23] The book has been translated into French Language and also into Hindi". [24] His short story "Virus" was published in the Daily Sun's Eid Special 2017 and "A slice of sky" has been published in the Contemporary Literary Review India (CLRI). [25] Askari wrote the intellectual biography of the country's founding president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,  which is "based on authentic background information, factual accounts of events, historical research and clear elegant prose". [26] He edited the English version of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's book My Father, My Bangladesh published in Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2021. [27]

Bibliography

Books

Short stories

Awards

References

  1. Askari, Rashid (1 October 2015). "A brief history of Bangladeshi writing in English". The Missing Slate. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  2. "Rashid Askari made IU VC". Daily Sun. 21 August 2016. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019.
  3. "Harun-Ur-Rashid joins Bangla Academy as DG". Daily Observer. 25 July 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  4. "Rashid Askari made Bangla Academy DG". New Age. 19 July 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  5. "Bangla Academy DG resigns". The Daily Star . 10 August 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  6. 1 2 "A Talk with IU VC". Daily Sun. Dhaka. 18 September 2016. Archived from the original on 6 March 2017.
  7. "IU Arts Faculty gets new dean". New Age. Archived from the original on 23 June 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Rashid Askari – Sangat Book Review". Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  9. "The Archer: First ever multilingual int'l literary magazine in country - Education". The Daily Observer. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  10. "Farid made president, Rashid secy gen of FBUTA". New Age. Dhaka. BSS. 9 March 2014.
  11. "IU Folklore Dept gets new chairman". The Financial Express. Dhaka. BSS. 21 January 2016.
  12. "Dr Rashid Askari nominated UGC part-time member". Daily Sun. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  13. Mosharrof. "Coffee table book to be published on Bangabandhu". Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  14. "'We don't know defeat'". The Daily Star. 10 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  15. "Bangabandhu's historic 1974 UN speech by Askari". The Independent. Dhaka.
  16. "Peer Reviewers Panel (QA experts)" (PDF). Quality Assurance Unit, University Grants Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 September 2016.
  17. "Abul Hossain, Askari awarded for contribution to education sector". Daily Sun. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  18. "IU VC got PBA gold medal". The Asian Age. Bangladesh. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  19. 1 2 "IU VC awarded 'Jononetri Sheikh Hasina Sommanona Padak-2019'". Daily Sun. 1 October 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
  20. "IU VC wins DU Alumni News Award". UNB. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  21. Islam, Syed Manzoorul (16 February 2012). "Nineteen seventy one and other stories: a collection of short stories". Dhaka Courier. Archived from the original on 23 May 2013.
  22. "A chronicler of the human soul". Dhaka Tribune (Op-ed). 22 August 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  23. "The Harrowing Tales of Bangladesh Liberation War". Dhaka Courier. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  24. "IU VC's book translated into French". A Daily with a Difference | Latest Online English Daily among Bangladesh Newspapers. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  25. Askari, Dr Rashid (5 November 2019). "A Slice of Sky". Contemporary Literary Review India. 6 (4): 68–91. ISSN   2394-6075.
  26. "IU teacher's book 'The Making of Mujib' published". The Asian Age. Bangladesh. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  27. "Ex-IU VC Prof Rashid Askari edits PM's book 'My Father, My Bangladesh". Daily Sun. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  28. Askari, Dr Rashid (3 August 2011). "Lottery -- A Short Story by Dr Rashid Askari". Contemporary Literary Review India. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013.
  29. "Jihad". Daily Sun. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  30. Chakravarty, Mitali (12 October 2019). "Short Story: The Disclosure". kitaab. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  31. WordPress.com, Blog at (31 March 2019). "Short Story: The virgin whore". Cafe Dissensus Everyday. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  32. "Abul Hossain, Askari awarded for contribution to education sector". Daily Sun. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  33. "IU VC wins DU Alumni News Award". The Asian Age. Bangladesh. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  34. "Ex-IU VC wins Vidyasagar Award 2023". New Age. Retrieved 16 January 2024.