Book Launch: Sajjad Zaheer's A Night in London

New York University in London,
6 Bedford Square, 6th October, 6.00-8.00pm

Translated into English for the first time by Bilal Hashmi, A Night in London (1938) chronicles the diverse and often conflicting emotional, ideological and political aspirations of an entire generation of Indian students in Europe. Long considered a landmark in twentieth-century Urdu fiction, the novella sheds light on the dynamics of late-imperial London—English working-class politics, anti-colonial sentiment and race relations—like no other sustained narrative by an expatriate Indian author of the same period. Now available for the first time in an English translation, Sajjad Zaheer's masterpiece calls for a reappraisal of non-European modernisms and the legacies of the Progressive Writers' Movement in South Asia.

Sajjad Zaheer (1905-1973) was a towering intellectual figure in twentieth-century South Asian letters and politics. One of the founders of the All-India Progressive Writers’ Association (AIPWA), his writings span a variety of genres and his ideas traverse national boundaries. As a political leader, writer, translator, poet and journalist, Zaheer engaged with many of the pressing issues of his day. A Night in London is his most important literary work.

Bilal Hashmi is a Henry M. MacCracken Fellow in the Department of Comparative Literature at New York University. He currently serves as the Managing Editor of the Duke University Press journal, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East.