KITAAB

Rahman Abbas will read from Rohzin in Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Munich, Mainz & Bonn

Rohzin, Rahman Abbas’s fourth novel, was released in 2016 at the Jashn-e-Rekhta Festival, Delhi. Since its launch, the novel has been widely discussed in the Urdu world both in India and Pakistan. In 2017, the Hindu Lit for Life festival hosted a session on Rohzin with critic Shafey Kidwai in discussion with Rahman Abbas. The Seemanchal, TISS and Dehradun Literature festivals also invited the author to read out from the novel. In 2016, Rawal TV, Canada’s Urdu television, broadcast an hour-long debate on the novel in which critics from India and Pakistan participated.

Gopi Chand Narang, the former President of Sahitya Academy, described Rohzin as a turning point in the history of Urdu novels, while eminent Pakistani author Mustansar Hussain Tarar called it a fearless creative narration. In 2017, Rohzin won the Maharashtra State Academy Award (Abbas had won the award for his first novel too, Khuda Ke Saaye Mein Ankh Micholi – Hide and Seek in the Shadow of God).

Rohzin grabbed the attention of German linguist and Urdu translator Almuth Degener who translated it for Draupadi Verlag under the German title Die Stadt, Das Meer, Die Liebe (The City, the Sea and the Love). The translated version was launched in Switzerland in February 2018.

Rahman Abbas has been invited to undertake a literary tour in various German cities from 23 May to 15 June, during which he will participate in reading sessions and meet his German readers. The tour is sponsored by Draupadi Verlag, Akademie Villigst and Indisches Kulturinstitut e.V (The Indian Cultural Institute).

According to the website of the Indian Cultural Institute, Rahman Abbas will be reading from his novel at Pfalzer Hof-Heidelberg, Indian Consulate General, Frankfurt, Mainz, Munich, and at University of Heidelberg. In addition, the author will attend a three-day conference on the topic ‘The Megacities in Literature’ in Schwerte, organized by Academy Villigst. During this conference where Rohzin will be discussed, Rahman Abbas will also share his experience of living in Bombay and how it has affected his writing. In Bonn University, the author will read from the novel and speak on the future of Urdu in India.

Kitaab International has obtained the rights to publish the English translation of Rohzin.