Taufiq Rafat Author

Playwright, translator, and poet, Taufiq Rafat (19271998) was regarded as one of the finest Pakistani poets writing in English. Postulating a fundamental Pakistani Idiom, he revolutionized English language writing in this country by adapting and naturalizing English to express the Pakistani experience. Born in Sialkot in 1927, Rafat was educated at Dehra Dun, Aligarh, and Government College, Lahore. His work featured in all three of Oxford University Presss early collections of Pakistani English poetry, First Voices (1964), Pieces of Eight (1970), and Wordfall (1976). He was published overseas in the celebrated literary-political journal, Encounter, as well as in Poems of the Commonwealth, and Mentors Modern Asian Literature.