Harris Khalique

Harris Khalique
Born	(1966-10-20)October 20, 1966 Karachi
Citizenship	Pakistan
Known for	Poetry

Harris Khalique (Urdu: حارث خلیق) (born 20 October 1966) based in Islamabad, Pakistan, is a poet writing in Urdu and English. He has eight collections of verse and a book of creative non-fiction behind him. Some of his Urdu and English poems with German translation are available online.

Early life

Harris Khalique was born in Karachi, Pakistan, on 20 October 1966 to a writer-filmmaker father, Khalique Ibrahim Khalique, and a writer-teacher mother, Hamra Khalique. He attended Public School Karachi Cantt., D.J. Sindh Government Science College and N.E.D. University of Engineering and Technology in Karachi, before doing his master’s degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. He lived, worked and studied in Europe for some time before settling down in Islamabad in 2001.

Career

His collections of poetry, Ishq Ki Taqveem Mein (Urdu) and Between You and Your Love (English) were particularly well received. He also won the ‘UBL Literary Excellence Award 2013’ in the category of Urdu poetry for his collection of verse Melay Mein (Urdu). The view from his window was sketched by celebrated Italian artist and architect, Matteo Pericoli, and included with Khalique’s corresponding write-up in a publication from Penguin US in November 2014.

Harris Khalique’s interests straddle South Asian history and culture, politics, human rights and international development. He has published papers and spoken to conferences and university audiences in South Asia, Europe and North America. He has contributed to newspapers and magazines in Pakistan and abroad for more than 25 years with a weekly column in The News International for eight years.

He is currently, working with Development Alternative Inc. (DAI) as a consultant, he is also the Team Leader of ‘AAWAZ – Voice and Accountability Programme’ focusing on the rights of women and excluded groups in Pakistan.

Poetry collections

• Melay Mein (Urdu, 2012) - ISBN 978-969-419-044-0
• Ishq Ki Taqveem Mein (Urdu, 2006) - ISBN 969-419-023-1
• Between You and Your Love (English, 2004) - ISBN 969-441-114-9
• Purani Numaish (Urdu, 2001)
• Divan (English, 1998) - ISBN 969-8437-00-2
• Saray Kaam Zaroori Thay (Urdu, 1997) - ISBN 969-441-019-3
• If Wishes Were Horses (English, 1996)
• Aaj Jab Hui Baarish (Urdu, 1991)

Non-fiction

• Unfinished Histories (co-written, English, 2002)- ISBN 969-516-065-4

Anthologies where some work appeared

• Dragonfly in the Sun – 50 years of Pakistani writing in English, Oxford University Press, 1997 (ISBN 978-0195778489)
• The Poetry of Men’s Lives, The University of Georgia Press, 2004 (ISBN 978-0820326498)
• Language for a New Century, W.W. Norton and Co., 2008 (ISBN 978-0820326498)
• Pakistani Urdu Verse, Oxford University Press, 2010 (ISBN 978-0195478914)
• Windows on the World – 50 writers, 50 views, Penguin US, 2014 (ISBN 978-1594205545)