Dr. Abid Raza

Dr. Abid Raza is a Pakistani-American physician, poet, and translator whose work moves between languages, cultures, and disciplines. He translated Jameel-ur-Rehman's collection Of the Strange Waters, bringing fifty Urdu poems to an English-speaking audience through AKS Publications. That project aligns with his broader focus on bridging the gap between Urdu literature and English readers.

As a poet, Raza authored his own debut collection, Rauzan-i-Siyah (Black Hole, 2024). His writing explores the psychological landscape of the migrant, capturing the specific ache of missing one's humzubaan, the people who share your language and frame of reference. He brings a clinician's precision to his literary work. His poetry respects the demanding classical structure of the ghazal while addressing entirely modern themes of technology, space, and the disorientation of living between two worlds. As a translator, he treats the ghazal as a living form. His objective is not to preserve a museum piece, but to build bridges between the past and the present, ensuring that contemporary Urdu poetry reaches readers who need it.