LITERATURE & CULTURE

Saif is well-known in the field of literature, art, culture and heritage. Author of ‘Beloved Delhi: A Mughal City and Her Greatest Poets’ (First Edition, 2018; Second Revised Edition, 2023: Speaking Tiger, New Delhi), he is a leading South Asian name in the field of Urdu poetry and its cultural heritage and a globally sought-after public speaker, commentator and translator. His works are considered authoritative and have been cited in research theses and peer-reviewed articles.

Through his various engagements, Saif works to showcase Urdu poetic traditions and emphasise poetry as a cultural document. He brings fresh insight to a range of themes found in Urdu poetry, and its wider cultural heritage. Saif has brought back to life the oral and performative tradition of Urdu poetry. He performs poetry from memory at literature festivals all over the world and brings to this practice an awareness of the significance of rhythm, the use of punning in creating a diverse set of meanings which have not only romantic but political overtones, and he is therefore able to place the verses in appropriate socio-historical frames. He also simultaneously translates them into English and, by doing so, he has not only revived one of the greatest and oldest traditions in Urdu poetry but also made it accessible to and relevant for English-speaking audiences. Saif’s candid conversations with celebrities in the fields of art, literature, culture and heritage including Javed Akhtar, Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Arfa Syeda Zehra, TM Krishna and Zehra Nigah, have received global acclaim.

Holding a doctorate in law, he has served as Visiting Academic at the University of Oxford, where he worked at the intersection of law and literature, focussing on the Mughal State’s treatment of Urdu poets of resistance.

Saif advises several cultural organisations in the UK and India and is currently Vice President of Urdu Culture London, Honorary Director of Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu UK and Advisor to Rekhta Foundation UK. His work appears regularly in the mainstream and social media.