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A LITERARY INSPIRATION

Anika Hossain
***Among his upcoming publications are a translation of Beeshad Sindhu (Ocean of Blood) by Mir Mosharaf Hossain, a translation of the poems of Rabindranath Tagore's English Gitanjali and a volume of new and published essays on reading postcolonially in Bangladesh.***
Dr Fakrul Alam is a renowned academic, writer, literary critic, editor and translator. He began his schooling at Little Jewels Kindergarten, in 1956 and later attended St Joseph's School where he completed his O'Levels. "St. Joseph's was wonderful," says Alam, That is where I got into sports. I played basketball, football and cricket and made great friends."
Dr Alam spent his college years at Notre Dame College and went on to complete his BA and MA degrees from Dhaka University (DU). "I always liked Economics and wanted to study it," he tells us, "But as I was not good at Math, English Literature seemed like the logical choice because one thing I had done in my life was read and read," he continues. "I read anything and everything, starting with comics to thrillers like Sherlock Holmes to westerns. Then I graduated to the more serious stuff," he recalls, "When I went to college I started reading Hemmingway, Kafka, and D.H. Lawrence etc. I also read a bit of Bangla fiction." When asked about his favourite authors he says, "My favourites have constantly changed over the years, but I am pretty convinced Melville is my favourite writer; I wrote my first dissertation on him. Later, I became interested in poetry. I loved reading Jibanananda Das and translated his works."
A published writer, Dr Alam has published innumerable essays in books and journals and edited countless publications. Among his upcoming publications are a translation of Beeshad Sindhu (Ocean of Blood) by Mir Mosharaf Hossain, a translation of the poems of Rabindranath Tagore's English Gitanjali and a volume of new and published essays on reading postcolonially in Bangladesh.
After Dhaka University, Dr Alam started to teach. He earned a second Maters Degree from Simon Fraser University and achieved his PhD from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He then returned to Bangladesh in '84 to teach, but in '89, he left for the USA as a Fulbright Scholar to teach at Clemson University in South Carolina for two years, on leave from DU.
There was never a question with me of ever wanting to stay abroad permanently,” says Alam, "I always wanted to be in Bangladesh," and so he returned once more in '91 to resume his associate teaching position at DU. Teaching is wonderful, it's brilliant," he shares. ‘As Cowper wrote; 'I am the monarch of all I survey'- that is the feeling I have when I walk into a classroom, where everyone's attention is focused on me and I get a chance to interact with my students and influence their minds."
Dr Alam has participated in literary festivals, namely the famous one in Jaipur. He has also judged books for literary prizes such as the Commonwealth Prize or the South
Asian Literature Prize, and attended academic conferences and workshops in places such as Kitakishu in Japan.
Dr Alam has also been a visiting professor at Jadavpur University in West Bengal, He is currently, the Editor of Six Seasons Review and a Member of the Editorial Board of 'Jamini.' Among his many publications and presentations are books on Daniel Defoe; Bharati Mukherjee and the volumes Imperial Entanglements and Literature in English and Rabindranath Tagore and Identity Formation in Bangladesh: Essays and Reviews'; translations of Jibanananda Das's poems, 'Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: The Unfinished Memoirs.' (Translated from Bangla) and The Essential Tagore' which he co-edited with Radha Chakravarti.
In the future, Dr Alam would like to catch up on his reading and pursue other creative interests that inspire him. "I am tired of checking scripts and would like to spend more time with my favourite poets and novelists and catch up with recent work in theory and my field. And for sure, write a lot more!"