Malaysian Literature Scholars: Mohammad A. Quayum

Posts dubbed with the "Malaysian Literature Scholars" heading are profiles of leading scholarly  figures which specializes on Malaysian Literature, especially that of English Literature. As such are relevant to this blog as scholarly works of these scholars shall be featured and discussed in this blog in the future. So why not get to know them before we discuss about their critic and observations of Malaysian literature?




Mohammad A. Quayum is Professor of English at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), and Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law at Flinders University, Australia. He was a Visiting Professor of English and Asian Studies at the State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University) in 2003-04. His previous affiliations include University Putra Malaysia (1996-2003), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (1993-96), University of Dhaka, Bangladesh (1992-93) and University of Chittagong, Bangladesh (1979-88).  

Quayum obtained his MA in English Literature (with First Class and Distinction) from Lakehead University, Canada, in 1984 and his PhD from Flinders University (South Australia), in 1991. He is the author, editor or translator of twenty five books in the areas of American literature, Asian Literature and Postcolonial literatures, including The Essential Rokeya: Selected Works of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) (Leiden, Brill, 2013), Rabindranath Tagore: Selected Short Stories (New Delhi, Macmillan, 2011), The Poet and His World: Critical Essays on Rabindranath Tagore (New Delhi, Orient Longman, 2011), Imagined Communities Revisited: Critical Essays on Asia-Pacific Literatures and Cultures (Kuala Lumpur, IIUM Press, 2011), A Rainbow Feast: New Asian Short Stories (Singapore, Marshall Cavendish, 2010), Sharing Borders: Studies in Contemporary Singaporean-Malaysian Literature (Singapore National Library Board, in partnership with the Singapore Arts Council, 2009), One Sky, Many Horizons: Studies in Malaysian Literature in English (Kuala Lumpur, Marshall Cavendish, 2007), Peninsular Muse: Interviews with Modern Malaysian and Singaporean Poets, Novelists and Dramatists (Oxford, Peter Lang, 2007), Saul Bellow and American Transcendentalism (New York, Peter Lang, 2004), The Merlion and the Hibiscus: Contemporary Short Stories from Singapore and Malaysia (New Delhi, Penguin, 2002), Colonial to Global: Malaysian Women’s Writing in English 1940s – 1990s (Kuala Lumpur, IIUM Press, 2001, 2003), Singaporean Literature in English: A Critical Reader (Kuala Lumpur, University Putra Malaysia Press, 2002), Malaysian Literature in English: A Critical Reader (Pearson Malaysia, 2001), Saul Bellow: The Man and His Work (New Delhi: B.R. Publishing, 2000), and In Blue Silk Girdle: Stories from Malaysia and Singapore (Kuala Lumpur, University Putra Malaysia Press, 1998).  

Quayum is also the author of fifty-odd articles in distinguished peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Commonwealth Literature, World Literature Written in English and Wasafiri in the UK; Kunapipi, New Literatures Review, CRNLE Journal, Quodlibet: The Australian Journal of Trans-national Writing and Transnational Literature in Australia; Crossroads: Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, South Asian Review, Journal of South Asian Literature, Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, MELUS, Saul Bellow Journal, Studies in American Jewish Literature, Notes on Contemporary Literature and American Studies International in the US; Postcolonial Text in Canada; New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies in New Zealand; English Studies in Africa in South Africa; Sun Yat-sen Journal of Humanities in Taiwan; Indian Journal of American Studies, Literature and Criticism, The Aligarh Critical Miscellany, The Visvabharati Quarterly and CIEFL Bulletin in India.

Quayum’s books have been reviewed in American Studies International (USA), Ariel (Canada), Asiatic (Malaysia), Cha: An Asian Literary Journal (Hong Kong), Diliman Humanities (Philippines), Journal of Commonwealth Literature (UK), Journal of Postcolonial Cultures and Societies (USA/India), Journal of Postcolonial Writing (UK), Kajian Malaysia: Journal of Malaysian Studies (Malaysia), Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, RELC Journal (Singapore), RIMA (Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Association, Australia), South Asian Review (USA), Sun Yat-sen Journal of Humanities (Taiwan), Transnational Literature (Australia), World Literature Written in English (UK), and in many newspapers in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia and Singapore.

Quayum was a recipient of the USIS Regionalisation Fellowship in 1995; Flinders University Visiting Fellowship in 1996; IRPA Research Grant from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Malaysia in 2000 and 2002; Visiting Professorship at Flinders University in 2009, and Senior Research Fellowship at the Singapore Management University in 2009 and 2010. He received Teaching Excellence Award at University Putra Malaysia in 1997 and 1998, and Quality Research Award at International Islamic University Malaysia in 2006, 2007 and 2008 (at the Faculty Level; three years consecutively). He was co-editor of the prestigious literary journal World Literature Written in English for eight years (1992-2000; published by the Oxford University Press, Singapore), and is the Founding Editor of Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature (indexed in Elsevier’s Scopus). He is on the advisory board of four leading journals in his field: Journal of Postcolonial Writing (Routledge, UK), Transnational Literature (Australia), Journal of Postcolonial Cultures and Societies (USA) and Diliman Humanities (the Philippines). His research interests range from 19th and 20th century American literature to contemporary Asian literature, with special focus on Indian literature, Bengali literature and Malaysian-Singaporean literature.

Quayum is a Bangladeshi citizen and an Australian Permanent Resident. He was born on June 30, 1954. He lives in Gombak, Kuala Lumpur with his wife, Natasha and daughter, Sasha.



Source: http://profquayum.blogspot.com/





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