Jamil Ahmad (June 1, 1931 – July 12, 2014) was a Pakistani civil servant, novelist and story writer. He wrote in the English language. He is known for his anthology, ''The Wandering Falcon'' which was short listed for

Man Asian Literary Prize The Man Asian Literary Prize was an annual literary award between 2007 and 2012, given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. It is awarded to write ...

, widely known as Asia's highest literary award, in 2011. The book was also a finalist for DSC prize for South Asian Literature in 2013. He died on 12 July 2014.

Biography

Jamil Ahmad was born in

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, in the erstwhile

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, in 1931. After early education in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, he joined the civil service in 1954, and worked in the

Swat valley Swat District (), also known as the Swat Valley, is a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Known for its stunning natural beauty, the district is a popular tourist destination. With a population of 2,687,384 per th ...

, a remote

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central Asia, Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and eastern Afghanistan into northwestern Pakistan and far southeastern Tajikistan. The range forms the wester ...

area, near Afghan border. During his career, he worked at various remote areas such as the

Frontier Province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...

, Chaghi, Khyber and Malakand. His experiences in these tribal valley assisted him in his work which was mainly focused on the lives of the tribal villagers. He also served at the Pakistani embassy in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

during the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

invasion of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

in 1979. He married Helga whom he met during his London years, who was critical of his early attempts at poetry but diligently tried to promote his work, ''The Wandering Falcon'', which was nominated for

in 2011. The couple had two sons and a daughter at the time of his death.

Work

''The Wandering Falcon'' can either be construed as a short story collection or a novel, based on differing perspectives. The book narrates the story of Tor Baz (the black falcon) and his travails through the remote tribal areas along the Pakistan - Afghan border where he experiences the lives of the ethnic

pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...

. The stories travel through the strict code of conduct of the tribals known as ''pashtunwali'', the lawlessness of the land where women are traded as commodity, adultery and anarchism, silhouetted against the Baluch desert landscape. The book received critical acclaim. Jamil Ahmad has also published a short story, ''The Sins of the Mother'', which appeared on ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...

112: Pakistan'' in 2010.

References

External links

*
Profile on Penguin

on GoodReads

on Tuesday Book Club

on River Head Books

Interview on Granta audio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad, Jamil 1931 births 2014 deaths Pakistani novelists English-language writers from Pakistan 20th-century Pakistani novelists Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz Recipients of the Shakti Bhatt Prize