Description

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Winner of the Inaugural Armory Square Prize for Translation

The Kettledrum and Other Stories introduction the extraordinary voice of renowned Urdu novelist, short story writer, playwright, and critic Siddique Alam. He is considered to be a modern master, whose introduction of fantastical elements into his narratives and experimental techniques (especially in his plays) have garnered him critical acclaim and popular success.

With each story in the collection he creates a unique territory revealing a deeply curious mind, and an master craftsman whose care and regard for the worlds of his stories imbues them with a rare authenticity. From the animistic tales of Adivasi tribespeople, and the interplay of complex relationships between broken people, to the complexities of lives lived on the fringe, Alam is able to create characters and events that function on the level of myth and archetype.

As we navigate Alam's complex, intricate fictional worlds, we encounter both a multitude of emotional universes imagined or drawn from keenly observed life, and nightmarish abstractions.

About the Author

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Siddique Alam is a novelist, short story writer, critic, playwright and poet. He was born in Purulia, West Bengal, India, on 21 April 1952, and currently lives in Calcutta. He completed degrees in English literature and law, and began writing fiction in 1972. He has published five collections of short stories, four novels, and a collection of poems.One of the finest voices in contemporary Urdu fiction, Alam is acclaimed for pioneering the use of fantastic elements in Urdu fiction, and is acknowledged for his use of innovative and experimental methods as a playwright. His short stories have been translated into a number of languages in India, and included in prestigious anthologies.Musharraf Ali Farooqi is a novelist, essayist, translator, and storyteller. His novel Between Clay and Dust was a finalist for the 2012 Man Asian Prize for Literature. He is the author of the internationally acclaimed translation of the The Adventures of Amir Hamza, and head of KITAB, which specializes in the publication of children's literature, and Urdu classics in the original and English translations. Farooqi is a Harvard University South Asia Institute fellow and has served on the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors of the Archeology and Literary Heritage Endowment Fund of the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting, National History and Literary Heritage.