Rashid Askari


Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari, known as Rashid Askari, is a Bengali-English writer, fictionist, columnist, translator, media personality and an academic in Bangladesh. He is the current and the 12th vice-chancellor of Islamic University, Bangladesh in Kushtia.

Early life and education

Askari was born in Askarpur, Mithapukur, Rangpur in erstwhile East Pakistan in 1965 to M. A. Mannan, an English teacher and headmaster, and Setara Begum, a housewife. Rashid passed the secondary school and higher secondary certificate examinations in 1980 and 1982 with merit. He "obtained Honours and Master’s degrees in English from Dhaka University with distinction, and a PhD in Indian English Literature from the University of Poona".

Career

Askari joined Islamic University, Kushtia as a lecturer in English in 1990. He became a professor in 2005 and was head of the English department more than once. He served with King Khalid University - the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a professor of English for five years. Askari later became a writer. His "debut as a writer was marked in 1996 by his book The Dying Homeland. Until recently, he has authored seven books, and edited three volumes of English Writings of Rabindranath Tagore published in commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary of the poet. He has also written a large number of articles, essays and newspaper columns on a great variety of themes ranging from national to international and colonial to postcolonial, which have been published at home and abroad". He was elected the Secretary General of Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Association for 2014. He was "made new chairman of Folklore Studies Department of the university in Kushtia". Askari has been nominated as a part-time member of the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh. He is working as a member of "the international publication and translation sub-committee" under "Bangabandhu’s Birth Centenary Celebration National Implementation Committee" and translated Sheikh Mujib's 10 January speech delivered at the Race Course into English.
He is a peer reviewer and a Quality Assurance expert nominated by the Quality Assurance Unit of the Government of People's Republic of Bangladesh. "...Askari regularly writes columns in various newspapers"... "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". In the recent past "Askari has been accorded gold medal for his contribution to advancement of education sector" in Bangladesh. He has also received "Janonetri Sheikh Hasina Award 2019" for his outstanding contribution to education sector, and "won the Dhaka University Alumni News Award 2020".

Writing style

Askari had a flair for creative writing since his school days. An unsigned profile in The Kushtia Times stated that Askari writes "both Bengali and English with equal ease and efficiency". Bangladeshi novelist and critic Syed Manzoorul Islam notes: "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...". "Dr. Askari has demonstrated enough artistic talent to come up with fiction in English, which must be a source of inspiration for many of us". In his short story collection Nineteen Seventy One and Other Stories "Rashid Askari speaks of a long-ago war, revisiting the age of brutality we emerged free of through beating back the denizens of darkness". The book has been translated into French Language and also into Hindi". His story "The Disclosure" was published in the emerging and seasoned writers publishing platform Kitaab'. Another story "The virgin whore" was published in the New York City and India based magazine Cafe Dissensus'. 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, a peer-reviewed, internationally refereed and high impact factor journal. "Sharp and minute detailed description of human behaviour, and pictorial presentation of events and settings in his carefully chosen words demonstrate Rashid Askari’s mastery in story writing/telling," says the President of the International Consortium for Social Development and Professor of Social Work at Charles Sturt University, NSW, Australia, Dr. Manohar Pawar.'''

Books

Askari was married to Masuma Ferdous in 1994 and has two children.

Awards