A01=Azra Abbas
Author_Azra Abbas
bilingual
biliterate
Category=DC
dreams
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_poetry
experimental poetry
faith
female desire
free verse
Pakistan
poetry
prose poetry
subconscious desire
translation
Urdu
Product details
- ISBN 9780299355647
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 178 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 21 Apr 2026
- Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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When Sleep Journeys first appeared in 1981, it took the Urdu poetry world by storm. Now considered one of the finest contemporary Urdu poets, Azra Abbas was among the first to embrace experimental, free verse poetry, a form that took time to gain traction in a field dominated by traditional forms. A single book-length poem, divided into three cantos, Sleep Journeys remains one of Abbas's most complex works, a dreamlike rumination that explores faith, female desire, and the subconscious mind. Her language is simple and austere, the complexity of the work emerging through repetition, interweaving, and juxtaposition. The result is a gossamer thread that leads the reader through a labyrinth of metaphor, imagery, and awe.
Award-winning translator Daisy Rockwell has crafted a poetic translation that captures the rhythm and flow of the original. Though comprising a vast web of interwoven prose, each page is self-contained, with the original Urdu facing the English. At the end of the book, a transliteration into Roman script allows readers of Hindi the opportunity to access the original. All told, the book ushers us into the state that lies between sleeping and waking, exploring hidden thoughts and desires; this edition brings one of the most celebrated Urdu poems from the late twentieth century to a broader, worldwide readership.
Award-winning translator Daisy Rockwell has crafted a poetic translation that captures the rhythm and flow of the original. Though comprising a vast web of interwoven prose, each page is self-contained, with the original Urdu facing the English. At the end of the book, a transliteration into Roman script allows readers of Hindi the opportunity to access the original. All told, the book ushers us into the state that lies between sleeping and waking, exploring hidden thoughts and desires; this edition brings one of the most celebrated Urdu poems from the late twentieth century to a broader, worldwide readership.
Azra Abbas was born in 1950 in Kanpur, India, and immigrated to Karachi, Pakistan, as a child. She burst onto the contemporary Urdu poetry scene in 1981 with the publication of her book-length prose poem Sleep Journeys (Nind ki Musaafaten). Writing prose poetry was a daring choice at the time; Abbas took a fresh approach, heralding a new beginning in Urdu poetry. She has written seven collections of poetry, two memoirs, a collection of short stories, and a novel. She lives in Karachi, where she is composing a novel and writing poetry.
Daisy Rockwell is an artist, writer, and Hindi-Urdu translator living in Vermont. She has translated numerous classic literary works from Hindi and Urdu into English, including Bhisham Sahni’s Tamas and Khadija Mastur’s The Women’s Courtyard. Her translation of Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand won the International Booker Prize and the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. She is a past winner of MLA’s Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Translation of a Literary Work for Krishna Sobti’s A Gujarat Here, a Gujarat There. More recently, she was awarded the Vani Foundation Distinguished Translator Award, recognizing the career achievements of translators of Indian languages. Her memoir, Our Friend, Art, is forthcoming in 2027.
Daisy Rockwell is an artist, writer, and Hindi-Urdu translator living in Vermont. She has translated numerous classic literary works from Hindi and Urdu into English, including Bhisham Sahni’s Tamas and Khadija Mastur’s The Women’s Courtyard. Her translation of Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand won the International Booker Prize and the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. She is a past winner of MLA’s Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Translation of a Literary Work for Krishna Sobti’s A Gujarat Here, a Gujarat There. More recently, she was awarded the Vani Foundation Distinguished Translator Award, recognizing the career achievements of translators of Indian languages. Her memoir, Our Friend, Art, is forthcoming in 2027.
