Library of Bangladesh Presents Shaheed Quaderi : Selected Poems

A central figure in the development of literary modernism in Bangladesh, Shaheed Quaderi was cut out by background and temperament to be the quintessential urban poet, though his vision was not restricted to cities alone. Born in Kolkata in 1942, he moved with his family to Dhaka in 1952, where within a few years he became one of the leading lights of a new generation of modern poets. Quaderi belonged to that rare category of poets who are precocious, influential, and yet not prolific. In a career spanning over sixty years he published only four collections; with a fifth volume put together posthumously. Quaderi chose a life of exile from 1978 onwards, living in Cologne, London, Boston, and finally New York. Taken together, Quaderi's five books comprise a brilliant poetic commentary on our troubled times. A master of powerfully evocative imagery, rich musical cadences and diction that ranges from the literary to the slangy, Quaderi is a distinctive and unforgettable voice in Bengali poetry. This selection presents Quaderi at his best, and is representative as well. It opens with the first poem of his first book, ends with the last poem of his posthumously published collection, and includes one of the two poems with which he made his debut in 1953. Kaiser Haq, who knew the poet well, and is a leading Bangladeshi poet writing in English, is uniquely qualified to present Quaderi to Anglophone readers interested in world literature.