Syed Manzoorul Islam, fiction writer, translator, art critic and curator teaches English at the University of Dhaka. Apart from academic articles and research monographs on a range of subjects including literary theory and cultural studies, Dr. Islam has been writing fiction in Bengali since 1973. He has to his credit six volumes of short stories and four novels published from Dhaka and Kolkata. The Daily Star Books brought out a collection of his self-translated short stories in English The Merman’s Prayer and Other Stories, in 2013. He has received many awards, including the prestigious Bangla Academy Award for Literature in 1996. Dr. Islam has sat on the jury board of a number of literary awards, including Commonwealth Prize (Eurasia Region, 1989), and Prothom Alo and Gemcon Literary awards given from Dhaka. He is a member of the editorial board of Jamini and international art magazine, and Six Seasons Review, a literary magazine, both published from Dhaka.