Ahsan Akbar

Ahsan Akbar () is an English poet and writer of Bangladeshi descent.

Early life

Akbar was born in London and subsequently grew up in Dhaka, Bangladesh, before moving back to the United Kingdom at the age of 16 on his own. He studied economics at University of Exeter, and worked as a vinyl record seller, bookseller, and as an equities trader in the City of London and Southeast Asia.

Akbar has described growing up in the 1980s as an experience with drawbacks. "There were few leisure activities," he says, "no bowling, nothing much on TV". With diversions largely absent, "things happened elsewhere" and his imagination took over.

Career

In November 2013, Akbar's debut book, The Devil's Thumbprint was published, it is a collection of poems which received critical acclaim since its publication. The book has been included in the English literature programme at SOAS, University of London.

Akbar is currently working on a novel, and has written for The Telegraph, Los Angeles Times, Wasafiri, Granta, Dhaka Tribune and other international publications. His poem "Tree Without Roots" was selected to represent Dhaka in "Capitals", a poetry anthology representing all the capital cities of the world. The collection was published in Bloomsbury International in winter 2016.

Akbar is co-founder of Zephyr:Media PR, a multi-platform PR and marketing boutique based in Mayfair and Soho with a global reach, with clients in fashion, food and beverage, hospitality and the arts industry.

Akbar is a director of the Dhaka Literary Festival (previously known as the Hay Festival Dhaka). He is a board member of Bengal Lights, Bangladesh's most prominent literary journal in English., and a Governor of WMC Camden College.

Akbar curated Bangladeshi writing, amongst other places, for Granta and Wasafiri.

Books

See also

• British Bangladeshi
• List of British Bangladeshis

• List of English writers
• List of performance poets

External links

• Akbar, Ahsan. Ahsan Akbar decodes Glastonbury for the Rookie. The Telegraph. 25 July 2013