Abu Ibrahim Mohammed Aftab Yusuf Shaikh (17th November 1989)
Biography
Shaikh was born in Bombay (now Mumbai) to Tahira and Yusuf Shaikh, a boiler cleaning contractor. He attended St. Joseph's School, Kurla, Bombay, Siddharth College and G. N. Khalsa College. He started writing at the age of eight and has since written over two hundred poems. He writes in English and Urdu. His poems have been featured in international publications like Muse India, The Istanbul Literary Review, The Barefoot Review, The Enchanting Verse Literary Review, Emerge Literary Review, Time Vision, Time Mastermind, Kritya Poetry Journal, Frogpond: The Journal of the Haiku Society of America, Shot Glass Journal, etc. He has published four booklets of poetry namely 'Poem Twenty Ten,' 'Emma', 'Daddy and Ibrahim' and 'Bachelor of Arts'. In March 2010, he was diagnosed with Blood Cancer (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) . After a duel of months, he survived the disease. Back to normal life, he continues writing. His works have been featured alongside the biggest names in Arab poetry like Adonis and Mahmud Darwesh; and Indian names like Arundhathi Subramaniam, Gopikrishnan Kottoor, K. Satchidanandan, Jayanta Mahapatra and Anita Nair. His poems have also been published or planned to be published in several anthologies such as Overplay/Underdone (Medusa's Laugh Press, 2013), Before There Is Nowhere To Stand: Palestine Israel Poets Respond To the Struggle (Lost Horse Press, 2012), Malala: Poems For Malala Yousafzai (FutureCycle Press, 2013), World Peace E-Anthology (World Poetry Forum, 2013), The Dance Of The Peacock (Hidden Brook Press, 2014), etc. His first novel 'The Library Girl' was published in 2017 for which he was adjudged the Ne8x Author of the Year 2019. In 2019, The Karadi Tales Company, Chennai, published his first picture book for children titled 'Letters To Ammi' as a part of their Cities Series. The book was shortlisted for the Neev Book Award 2020, adjudged one of the 14 Great Children's Books on Religious Tolerance and Interfaith Harmony by HuffPost India, one of the Top Kid's Books of 2019 by Indian Publishers by The Indian Express and was on the GETTLITT List of Best Children's Books of 2019. He was shortlisted for the International Capoliveri Haiku Prize 2013 by the Capoliveri Commune, Italy; nominated for the Poem of the Year Award 2016 instituted by SalisOnline Magazine and shortlisted twice for the WordWeavers Short Story Prize in 2018 and 2019. He gained third position in the WordWeavers Haiku Prize 2019. He was awarded the 'Poiesis Award for Excellence in Literature' in 2020 for his acid attack based story titled 'Bhabisa' he had written when he was fifteen. He was awarded the Sahityakosh Samman 2021 and NE8X Book Honour 2021 by the NE8x Online Fest 2021. Aftab earned his Bachelor of Theology and Master of Divinity degrees in Christian Studies from the International Institute of Church Management, Chennai and a Bachelors in English Literature and Psychology from the University of Mumbai and a Masters in English from Alagappa University. In September 2019, Shaikh travelled to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah on a pilgrimage. He is presently pursuing his Doctor of Theology degree in Religious Studies.
(FICTION) London Night [Vocab Academy, Thane, 2016] The Library Girl [LiFi Publications, New Delhi, 2017] Waiting for Father [LitKanmani, Bengaluru, 2023]
(OUT-OF-PRINT POETRY BOOKLETS) Poems - Twenty Ten [Createspace, 2010] Emma [Persian Sun, 2012] Daddy and Ibrahim [Persian Sun, 2014] Bachelor of Arts [Persian Sun, 2015] Tehzeeb Talkies [QuickReads/ Writersgram, 2019]
(Featuring Publications) Children's World, New Delhi, August 2008. Children's World, New Delhi, January 2008. Children's World, New Delhi, November 2004. Inspirational Quote, Mumbai, November 2003. The Teenager, Mumbai, April 2005. Inspirational Quote, Mumbai, April 2004. Skipping Stones, Eugene (Canada), Vol.17 no.2. The Istanbul Literary Review, Istanbul (Turkey) Issue 19, January 2011. Ancient Heart Magazine, Gladesville (Australia) 08 October 2011. Muse India, Secunderabad (India) Issue 40, Nov-Dec 2011. Moon Washed Kisses, (USA) January 2012. The Barefoot Review, (USA) Winter 2012 The Teenager Today, (INDIA) march 2012 Frogpond-Journal of the Haiku Society of America, (USA) Issue 35.2 The Best of Mad Swirl (April 2012) Poetry Super Highway (May-June 2012) Emerge Poetry Journal UK Poetry Library (02/01/2013) Kritya Poetry Journal (July 2012) The Enchanting Verses Poetry (March 2012) Brown Critique Journal (March 2012) Shot Glass Journal, Issue 9, Jan 2013 The Gloom Cupboard Magazine, Issue 152 The Red Fez, Issue 61, October 2013 Eunoia Review, April 2014 The Literary yard, September 2013 Yellow Mama Journal, February 2014 Ealaine Literary and Art Magazine, November 2014 Metaphor Magazine, Issue 3 Silver Birch Press, 2015 Poppy Road Review, 2021 The Evening Street Review, December 2022 Lothlorien Poetry Journal, December 2022
Featuring Anthologies: -English Underlay/Overdone (Medusa's Laugh Press, 2012) World Poetry peace-Anthology (World Poetry Forum 2013) Before We Have Nowhere To Stand: Palestine Israel Poets Respond To The Struggle (Lost Horse Press, 2012) Malala: Poems for Malala Yousafzai (FutureCycle Press, 2013) The Dance of the Peacock (Hidden Brook Press, 2014) Microtext one (Medusa's laugh press, 2014) Lummox 3 (Lummox press, 2014) Epitaph (The third eye imprint, 2014) Clarify 2 (annapurna, 2014) Rondini e Haiku migrano a Capoliveri (Italy, 2014) Junkyard Kool (Kool Kids Press, 2014) All About My Name Series (Silver Birch Press, 2015) University Special (Poets Corner, delhi, 2014) Eastern Voices (Lost Tower Publications, 2014) The Book of the Fourth Haiku Contest Sharpening the Pencil (Romanian Kukai, Romania, 2015) Mirrored Voices: Best of Modern Poetry ( 2016) Theories of Her (Mercurial Noodle, 2016) Microtext Two (Medusa's Laugh Press, 2017) Wordweavers Anthology (Wordweavers India, 2019)
-HINDI Lamhey (Poets Corner, 2014)
Featuring Festivals: CHELTENHAM POETRY FESTIVAL, (in absentia) England (2014) WORLD POETRY FORUM LITFEST, (in absentia) CANADA (2014) VIZAG JUNIOR LITERARY FESTIVAL, Visakhapatnam (2019) NEEV LITERATURE FESTIVAL ONLINE (2020) NEEV LITERATURE FESTIVAL ONLINE (2021) ASIA PACIFIC LITERARY FESTIVAL, Bengaluru (2022)