The Writer’s Block: A Video Q&A with Harris Khalique
by Sampsonia Way / October 16, 2015 / No comments
Harris Khalique is a Pakistani poet who writes in both Urdu and English. He occasionally writes in Punjabi as well. Currently based in Islamabad, Pakistan, he was a fall resident at the 2015 International Writer’s Program at the University of Iowa. He also performed at City of Asylum’s Jazz Poetry Concert in September.
An internationally recognized poet, Harris Khalique is the author of eight poetry collections, including the English collection Between You and Your Love. In 2013, his collection Melay Mein won the UBL Literary Excellence Award in the category of Urdu poetry. He is also a weekly columnist in The News International, and has advocated for social, labor, gender, and minority rights in Pakistan.
Sampsonia Way interviewed Harris Khalique about poetry’s power of liberation, the Pakistani literary tradition of resistance, and the revolutionary movement currently occurring in Pakistan’s poetry community despite the dangers writers face in that country. Pakistan ranks #159 out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Index.
