Faculty Profile

Dr Mohammad Shafiqul Islam

Professor

Contact Information

  • Office Address: Department of English, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet-3114, Bangladesh
  • Phone:
  • Email: msislam-eng@sust.edu

Biography

Dr Mohammad Shafiqul Islam (ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9880-4645) is Professor in the Department of English, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh. His research interests encompass, but are not restricted to, Postcolonialism, World Literature, Translation Studies, Anthropocene, and South Asian Literature. Other than scholarly work in literature, he is committed to creative writing, especially poetry, and literary translation. Dr Islam is the author of two poetry collections, most recently Inner State, and the translator of several books, including The Glorious Afternoon, Selected Poems: Rudra Muhammad Shahidullah, Humayun Ahmed: Selected Short Stories, and Aphorisms of Humayun Azad. His research articles, poetry, and translation have appeared in Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Critical Survey, Journal of World Literature, South Asian Review, English: Journal of the English Association, The Review of English Studies, English in Education, Comparative Literature: East & West, Forum for World Literature Studies, Journal of Poetry Therapy, Journal of Global Postcolonial Studies, Asia Pacific Translation and Intercultural Studies, Massachusetts Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, Five Points, Delos, Poem: International English Language Quarterly, Crossings: A Journal of English Studies, Dibur Literary Journal, Lunch Ticket, and elsewhere. His work has been anthologised in a number of books, including The Book of Dhaka: A City in Short Fiction, The Best Asian Poetry, When the Mango Tree Blossomed, An Ekushey Anthology: 1952-2022, Meet Human Meat and Other Stories, Of the Nation Born, Poems from the SAARC Region, Kazi Nazrul Islam: Selections, and Monsoon Letters: Collection of Poems. He has also presented a good number of papers in international conferences and participated in workshops on literary translation and creative writing at home and abroad, including the ones organized by University of East Anglia, UK, and San Pellegrino University, Italy. He has also presented a paper on Translating Women at the University of London, UK. Dr Islam is currently at work on his third collection of poetry and a few research and translation projects, including The Letters of Kazi Nazrul Islam. He may be communicated at email: msislam-eng@sust.edu.

Education

  • PhD, AUS, India (2018)
  • MA in English, CU, Bangladesh (2000; exam held in 2004)
  • BA (Hons) in English, CU, Bangladesh (1999; exam held in 2003)

Research Interests

  • Poetry, Literary Translation, and Creative Writing
  • Postcolonialism, Translation Studies, World Literature, Anthropocene, and South Asian Literature

Active Research Project

  • 1. The Letters of Kazi Nazrul Islam (translation)
  • 2. Interviews with literary translators

Previous Research Project

  • 1. Research project titled "Language learning and other motivations to study English literature: An exploration of public universities in Bangladesh" under Research Centre, SUST, Sylhet, Bangladesh

External Affiliations

  • Editor (Poetry) of Reckoning, a US literary journal
  • Reviewer of an OUP journal titled English: Journal of the English Association
  • Reviewer of a Routledge journal titled South Asian Review
  • Reviewer of the journal titled Asian Women
  • Reviewer of the journal titled Scholars: Journal of Arts & Humanities
  • Reviewer of the journal Premier Critical Perspective
  • Reviewer of the journal SUST Journal of Social Sciences
  • Reviewer of Comilla University Journal
  • Convenor of the international conference on
  • Reviewer of Manabbidya, a journal of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Trishal
  • Reviewer of a Routledge journal titled Journal of Postcolonial Writing
  • Member, Editorial Board, SUST Journal of Social Sciences
  • Reviewer of Babel, a journal of Benjamin publishing
  • Reviewer of Comparative Literature: East & West, a Routledge journal
  • Reviewer of Cogent Humanities

Journal Publications

  • 1. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul, trans. The Glorious Afternoon. By Selina Hossain. Dhaka: Bangla Academy, 2024.
  • 2. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "The Triumph of the Snake Goddess: A Composite Creative Translation of Verse into Prose." Forum for World Literature Studies 16 (1): 40-59. https://www.fwls.org/Download/Archives/1130.html
  • 3. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "War, Religion, and Terror: Syed Shamsul Haq’s Two Novellas Blue Venom and Forbidden Incense." Writing Disaster in South Asian Literature and Culture: The Limits of Empathy and Cosmopolitan Imagination. Maryland: Lexington Books, 2024. 129-142.
  • 4. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul, trans. “The Kafkaesque and the Stories of Our K and Samsa by Mojaffor Hossain." Delos: A Journal of Translation and World Literature 38.2 (2023): 201-208. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5744/delos.2023.2006
  • 5. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "'A good translator can be androgynous': an interview with Niaz Zaman." Asia Pacific Translation and Intercultural Studies, Routledge (2022). doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/23306343.2022.2027689.
  • 6. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "‘You Can’t Have a One Size Fits All Strategy in Translation’: An Interview with Fakrul Alam." ENGLISH: Journal of English Association, Oxford Academic, Oxford University Press (2022). doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/english/efab031.
  • 7. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "COP26 and the Crisis of Climate Change in Bangladesh." Space and Culture India 10.1 (2022): 44-53. DOI: 10.20896/saci.v10i1.1241
  • 8. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Six Poems." Journal of Poetry Therapy, Routledge, 2022. DOI: 10.1080/08893675.2022.2113344
  • 9. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Prufrock in the 21st Century." English in Education, Routledge, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/04250494.2022.2114342
  • 10. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Two Poems." Journal of International Women's Studies, Vol. 24, Issue 6. https://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol24/iss6/23
  • 11. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul Islam. "Writing War and Womanhood: Representation of Violence and Disgrace in Dilruba Z. Ara's Blame." Narratives of Trauma in South Asian Literature, 1st Edition, Routledge, 2022. DOI: 10.4324/9781003353539-11
  • 12. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. ""Translators are bridge builders, linking people and cultures": An interview with Mohammad A. Quayum." Comparative Literature: East & West, Routledge, 2022. DOI: 10.1080/25723618.2022.2146269
  • 13. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Jhumpa Lahiri: Translating Myself and Others". Review of Jhumpa Lahiri's Translating Myself and Others. The Review of English Studies, OUP, November 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/res/hgac084
  • 14. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "A City of Cynics." Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Routledge, 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2022.2156711
  • 15. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "I Have Lodged a Lawsuit against Myself." Scrutiny2 27.1 (2022): 75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/18125441.2023.2211744
  • 16. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Humayun Ahmed." The Literary Encyclopedia 9 Feb. 2021. https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14583.
  • 17. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Two Poems." Capitalism Nature Socialism, Routledge (https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2021.1933762).
  • 18. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Exploring Love, Sex, and Loneliness in Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay's Panty." Journal of Global Postcolonial Studies 8.2 (2020). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5744/jgps.2020.1015.
  • 19. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Celebrating Silence." Capitalism Nature Socialism, Routledge, 2021. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2021.2010755).
  • 20. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. Inner State (a poetry collection). Dhaka: Daily Star Books, 2020. Print.
  • 21. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul, trans. "The Color of Death" by Selina Hossain. The Massachusetts Review 61.3 (2020): 560-567. Print.
  • 22. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "10 Questions for Mohammad Shafiqul Islam." Interview by Edward Clifford. The Massachusetts Review Oct. 2020. Web. https://massreview.org/node/9249.
  • 23. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Influences and Individualities: Exploring Nissim Ezekiel’s Poetic World." Crossings: A Journal of English Studies 11.1 (2020): 70-85.
  • 24. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Bangladeshi Poets Writing in English: Exploring Kaiser Haq as the Leading Voice." Journal of World Literature 6.1 (2020): 65-83. Print.
  • 25. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul, and Rama Islam. "Representation of Postcolonial Indian Women: Bimla and Nanda Kaul in Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day and Fire on the Mountain". South Asian Review 40.1 (2019): 51-64. Print.
  • 26. ---. "Multiple Approaches to Translating the Poems and Songs in The Essential Tagore". East West Journal of Humanities 6/7 (2019): 137-151. Print.
  • 27. ---. "A Seamless Bond between River and Life in Tarfia Faizullah's Seam." Journal of Language, Literature and Culture 2.1 (2019): 160-173. Print.
  • 28. ---. "Literary translation: trend and practice in Bangladesh". Asia Pacific Translation and Intercultural Studies 5.1 (2018): 90-110. Print.
  • 29. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Alienation, Ambivalence and Identity: Jhumpa Lahiris In Other Words". Critical Survey 30.4 (2018): 40-53. Print.
  • 30. ---. "Shadow Lines." Journal of Postcolonial Writing 54.4 (2018): 565. Print.
  • 31. ---. “Don’t Tell My Mother I’ve Died." Poem: International English Language Quarterly 6.1 (2018): 121-123. Print.
  • 32. ---. “I’m Otherwise Fine." Poem: International English Language Quarterly 6.1 (2018): 124-125. Print.
  • 33. ---. “A Hundred Years from Now." Reckoning 2 (2018): 157-159. Print.
  • 34. ---, trans. “Lonely Poet, Quiet Restaurant,” by Syed Shamsul Haq. Lunch Ticket issue 13 (Summer/Fall 2018). Web. 25 June 2018.
  • 35. ---, trans. “Only You,” by Syed Shamsul Haq. Lunch Ticket issue 13 (Summer/Fall 2018). Web. 25 June 2018.
  • 36. ---, trans. “Midnight,” by Rudra Muhammad Shahidullah. Dibur Literary Journal Issue 5 (2018). Web. 31 March 2018.
  • 37. ---, trans. Aphorisms: Humayun Azad (translation). Dhaka: Agamee Prakashani, 2017. Print.
  • 38. ---. Representation of the Voiceless: Nissim Ezekiels Selected Poems. Crossings: A Journal of English Studies 8.1 (2017): 101-111. Print.
  • 39. ---. “Walking Barefoot on the Grass”. Critical Survey 29.1 (2017): 149. Print.
  • 40. ---. “Rivers Lament." Reckoning 1 (2017): 27-29. Print.
  • 41. ---, trans. Humayun Ahmed: Selected Short Stories (translation). Dhaka: Anyaprokash, 2016. Print.
  • 42. ---. Nissim Ezekiels Modern Position: A Clean Break with the Romantic past. The NEHU Journal 14.2 (July-December 2016): 33-53. Print.
  • 43. ---. Nostalgia, Contemporaneity and Cynicism: Kaiser Haqs Pariah and Other Poems. Diasporas and Diversities: Selected Essays. Ed. Niaz Zaman and Towhid Bin Muzaffar. Dhaka: Independent University, Bangladesh (2016): 109-127. Print.
  • 44. ---, trans. “The Princess and the Father,” by Bipradash Barua. The Book of Dhaka: A City in Short Fiction. London: Comma Press, 2016. 91-104. Print.
  • 45. ---, trans. “An Interview with Krishna Banerjee: Experiences at the Refugee Camp in 1971,” by Qurratul Ain Tahmina. Of the Nation Born: The Bangladesh Papers. Ed. Hameeda Hossain, and Amena Mohsin. New Delhi: Zubaan, 2016. 314-321. Print.
  • 46. ---, trans. “Five Case Studies of Sexual Violence on Indigenous Women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts,” by Ilira Dewan. Of the Nation Born: The Bangladesh Papers. Ed. Hameeda Hossain, and Amena Mohsin. New Delhi: Zubaan, 2016. 329-350. Print.
  • 47. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. Wings of Winds (poetry collection). Dhaka: Adorn Publication, 2015. Print.
  • 48. ---, and Rashed Mahmud. The Quest for Beauty in Rabindranath Tagores Poetry. Crossings: A Journal of English Studies 4/5 (2014): 61-75. Print.
  • 49. ---, and Rama Islam. Disintegration of Familial Bond and Beyond: A Study of Anita Desais Clear Light of Day and Partition 1947. Chaos: IUB Studies of Language, Literature and Creative Writing 2.1 (2014): 54-67. Print
  • 50. ---, and Rashed Mahmud. Kazi Nazrul Islam: A Stern Voice against Communalism. Southeast University Journal of Arts and Social Sciences l.1 (2014): 89-108. Print.
  • 51. ---. Rudra Muhammad Shahidullah: Romantic and Revolutionary. Cerebration Summer special issue (2014). Cerebration online. Web. Dec. 2014.
  • 52. ---, trans. “The Smell of Corpses in the Air,” by Rudra Muhammad Shahidullah. Poems from the SAARC Region. Colombo: SAARC Cultural Centre, 2013. 22-23. Print.
  • 53. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Emancipation of Women through Education and Economic Freedom: A Feminist Study of Begum Rokeya’s Utopias". SUST Journal of Social Sciences 18.4 (2012): 11-19. Print.

Conference

  • 1. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Contexts and Connotations: Revisiting Shakespeare’s Sonnets." Workshop on Nuances of Teaching Shakespeare in Bangladeshi Classrooms, Organized by ATLEB, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 27 April 2024.
  • 2. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Voices from the Margins and Resistance: Kaiser Haq and Robin Ngangom’s Selected Poems. International conference on Interplay of Community, Textuality and Orality: Comparative Perspectives on History, Culture and Society, Department of English, Sikkim University, India, 20-22 November 2023.
  • 3. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Male Gaze in Syed Shamsul Haq's Blue Venom and Forbidden Incense." International conference on Mapping Gendered Spaces in Language, Literature and Culture, Department of English, University of Dhaka, 4-5 May 2023.
  • 4. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Anglophone and Diasporic Writing from Bangladesh: Rethinking Monica Ali, Zia Haider Rahman, and Tahmima Anam." International Conference on Natural and Cultural Heritage in South Asia, Tribhuvan University, Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokhara, Nepal, 16-17 June 2022.
  • 5. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Bangladeshi Writing in English: Progress and Prospects." A talk organized by the Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, 23 June 2022.
  • 6. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Re-presenting and Re-membering Birangonas: War, Rape, and Trauma in Neelima Ibrahim’s A War Heroine, I Speak." International Conference: Issues and Discourses around Liberal Arts and HumanitiesAt: Faculty of Arts, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh, 13-14 Nov. 2022.
  • 7. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "English Teaching in the Twenty-first Century: Clichés and Scopes." A Keynote Address on English Teachers' Career Pathways organized by BELTA at British Council, Sylhet, Bangladesh, 02 December 2022.
  • 8. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. Participated in a workshop on "Teaching Literature through Theory" organized by Association of Teachers of Literatures in English, Bangladesh (ATLEB), 18 December 2022.
  • 9. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Circulation of Local Literature on the Global Stage." (Plenary) Virtual International Conference on English Language, Literature and Culture in Digital Age: Wanderings and Enrootings, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India, 16-17 Dec. 2021.
  • 10. ---. "Trajectories from Global South to World Literature: Canonizing The Triumph of the Snake Goddess and Ocean of Sorrow". Postcolonial Perspectives: Language, Literature and Culture and Global South. Department of English, Daffodil International University, Dhaka, 14-15 2020.
  • 11. ---. “Portrayal of Pandemics in Literature”. (Keynote Address) Pandemic and Literature: A One-Day International Webinar, Department of English, Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya, East Burdwan, West Bengal, India, 29 July 2020.
  • 12. ---. "Bangladeshi English Literature: Recognition across Frontiers." (Keynote Address) Webinar. Department of English, University of Science and Technology, Chittagong, Bangladesh, 25 Sept 2020.
  • 13. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul Islam. "Academic Research and Translation of Bengali Literature." A Talk organized by Praxis, New Readers' Society, 18 Sept 2020.
  • 14. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul. "Creative Writing." A talk organized by The Phoenix, 26 June 2020.
  • 15. Islam, Mohammad Shafiqul Islam. "Translation Studies as an Independent Discipline: Theory and Praxis." Transpassing Boundaries through Translation. Department of English, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali, 27 Feb. 2020.
  • 16. ---. "The Triumph of the Snake Goddess: A Composite Creative Translation of Verse into Prose". Transgressing/Transcending Borders through Translation, Department of English, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 24-25 Jan 2019.
  • 17. ---. “Money, Migration and Motherland: Imdadul Haq Milan’s Two Novellas Bondage and Exile”. The Poetic Imagining(s) of South Asia: Borders and Nations, South Asian University, New Delhi, 22-23 Apr 2019.
  • 18. ---. "Women Writers of Bengali Literature: Transcending Borders through Translation". Translating Women: breaking borders and building bridges in the English-language book industry, University of London, London, 31 Oct-1 Nov 2019.
  • 19. ---. "Intellectual Freedom and Walking Alone: Exploring Rabindranath Tagore’s Selected Poems and Songs". Rabindranath Tagore in South Asia, MC College, Sylhet, 5-6 Nov 2019.
  • 20. ---. "Environment, Literature, and Sustainability of Civilization". Environment and Literature. Galsi Mahavidyalaya, University of Burdwan, West Bengal, 6 Dec 2019.
  • 21. ---. “Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay’s Panty Reintroduces Love, Sex and Loneliness”. Redrawing Gender Boundaries in Literary Terrains, Department of English, Brac University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 18-19 May 2017.
  • 22. ---. “Multiple Approaches to Translating the Poems and Songs in The Essential Tagore”. English Studies and the Marketplace, Department of English, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 19-20 February 2016.
  • 23. ---. “Seamless Bond between River and Life in Tarfia Faizullah’s Seam”. The River: Flows of Innovation and Exchange in the Global(i)zed English World, Department of English Language and Literature, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 3-4 March 2016.
  • 24. ---. “Representation of Women in Kazi Nazrul Islam’s Selected Poems”. Poetry: East and Northeast India, Department of Indian Comparative Literature, Assam University, Silchar, India, in collaboration with Rabindra Bharati University and Byatikram Masdo, India, 27-28 March 2016.
  • 25. ---. “Alienation, Ambivalence and Identity: A Reading of Jhumpa Lahiri’s In Other Words”. Annual Seminar, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Comilla University, Comilla, Bangladesh, 25-26 April 2016.
  • 26. ---. “Regional Reality, Solitude and Nature: Robin S. Ngangom’s Poetic Objects”. (Re)envisaging India’s Northeast: Ethnicity, Identity, Culture, Literature, Department of English, Assam University, Silchar, India, 8-9 September 2016.
  • 27. ---. “Mapping Memory and Horrors of History in Tarfia Faizullah’s Seam”. A Thrice-Partitioned Nation: Revisiting Bangladesh, English Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna, Bangladesh, 28-29 March 2015.
  • 28. ---. “Nissim Ezekiel’s Modern Position and ‘a clean break with the Romantic past’”. Language, Literature and Community, Department of English, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, 10-11 July 2015.
  • 29. ---. “Representations of the Struggling Voices in Nissim Ezekiel’s Selected Poems”. The Machine in the Garden: Literature, Language and Technology in English Studies, Department of English, Daffodil International University, Bangladesh, 19 September 2015.
  • 30. ---. “Nostalgia, Contemporaneity and Cynicism: Kaiser Haq’s Pariah and Other Poems”. Diasporas and Diversities: Teaching English in a Changing World. Department of English, Independent University Bangladesh, 5-7 November 2015.
  • 31. ---. “Literary Translation: Theory, Trend and Practice in Bangladesh”. Nida School of Translation Studies, San Pellegrino University, Misano, Italy, 18-29 May 2015.
  • 32. ---. “Fusion of Cultural and Generational Divergences and Tension: A Diasporic Study of Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth”. National Seminar on Women and Media: Challenges and Opportunities, Centre for Bangladesh Studies and Department of Bengali, Assam University, India, 3-4 March 2014.

Teaching

  • Professor, Department of English, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (from 14 December 2021 to present)
  • Associate Professor, Department of English, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (from 16 October 2018 to 13 December 2021)
  • Assistant Professor, Department of English, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (from 30 June 2010 to 15 October 2018)
  • Lecturer, Department of English, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (from 30 December 2007 to 29 June 2010)
  • Lecturer, Department of English, Metropolitan University (from 12 March 2005 to 29 December 2007)

Awards & Recognition

  • Honoured for being part of Songs for a Country, a documentary based on George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh.

Graduate Supervision

  • 1. PhD thesis examiner: Department of English, University of Malaya, Malaysia
  • 2. PhD thesis examiner: Department of English, University of Madras, India
  • 3. PhD thesis examiner: Department of English, Vellore Institute of Technology, India
  • 4. PhD thesis examiner: Department of English, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh
  • 5. Supervised graduate dissertations