President of BTA

Abdud SELIM

Abdus SELIM was born on 19 September, 1945. He studied English literature at Dhaka University and English Language Teaching at Exeter University, and University of London. He is engaged in translation works since 1975. His first work of translation in Bangla, Life of Galileo Galilei, a play by Bertolt Brecht, was published in 1978 and was successfully staged in 1986. Since then he has published in newspapers and magazines innumerable translated poems, short stories, essays and plays both in Bangla and English. His first translation of Bangla poems, Selected Poems from Bangladesh, an anthology of selected poems of the poets of the 60s and early 70s, came out in 1985. Abdus Selim's latest publication, Onubad Natokshamogra, a collection of 19 translated plays in three volumes, came out in February 2013, includes playwrights like Shakespeare, Moliere, Brecht, Ibsen, Durrenmart, Pinter, Doris Lessing, Vijay Tendulkar, Gao Xinggjian, Yamamoto, and many others.His other recent

translations include Endgame by Samuel Beckett, The Vertical Hour by David Hare, Binodini, a compilation of pioneering stage actress's autobiography into a stage play by Saymon Jakaria, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee. He was one of the pioneers of Film Society movement in Bangladesh and is the present President, Bangladesh Federation of Film Societies. He has subtitled more than a dozen international award winning Bangla movies. He is also the Vice President, International Theater Institute (ITI), Bangladesh. Selim co-edited with Abdul Mannan Syed two Bangla literary magazines during late 60s and early 70s of the last millennium. He is presently editing Translation, a half-yearly compilation of translation of Bangladeshi literary works. Abdus Selim received Shaheed Munir Chowdhury 2010, for his contributions to Bangla theater, and Bangla Academy Literary Award 2015 for his translation works. He is married with two daughters.