Rashid Askari

Early life

Askari was born in Ashkarpur, Mithapukur, Rangpur in 1965. He "obtained Honours and Master’s degrees in English from Dhaka University with distinction, and a PhD in Indian English Literature from the University of Poona".

Career

Askari joined Islamic University, Kushtia as a lecturer in English in 1990. He became a professor in 2005 and was head of the English department more than once. He was elected the Secretary General of Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Association for 2014. He was "made new chairman of Folklore Studies Department of the university in Kushtia". He is a peer reviewer and a Quality Assurance(QA) expert nominated by the Quality Assurance Unit of the Government of People's Republic of Bangladesh. "...Askari regularly writes columns in various newspapers"... "The areas of his academic interest include Modern and Postmodern Fiction, Colonial and Postcolonial Literatures, South-Asian Writing in English, Literary Theories and Creative Writing".

Writing style

An unsigned profile in The Kushtia Times stated that Askari writes "both Bengali and English with equal ease and efficiency". Bangladeshi novelist and critic Syed Manzoorul Islam notes: "He writes witty, racy stories with surprisingly serious undertones. Picking real-life events from the remote areas and the marginal people of the country and weaving them into various fictional forms are the hallmarks of his storytelling. ... Though not new in a ground-breaking way, his stories are both intense and original. The overall tone of his language is gently sarcastic ...". "Dr. Askari has demonstrated enough artistic talent to come up with fiction in English, which must be a source of inspiration for many of us".