Prof. Nishat Zaidi is a distinguished scholar, translator, and academic leader, currently serving as a Professor in the Department of English at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. A former Head of the Department, she also holds the position of Honorary Director at the university’s Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women’s Studies. Her scholarly work is notable for its interdisciplinary breadth, spanning Indian writing in English, women’s writing, Hindi-Urdu literary cultures, and innovative fields like digital humanities and oceanic studies.
A central pillar of Professor Zaidi’s work is bridging the linguistic and cultural gap between Hindi, Urdu, and English through translation. Her English translation of Munshi Premchand’s historical play, Karbala (2022), has been widely acclaimed for making a seminal work accessible to a global audience. This commitment to cross-cultural literary exchange is further evident in her co-translation of Intizar Husain’s partition-era novel Day and Dastan (2018) and the classic 19th-century travelogue Between Worlds: The Travels of Yusuf Khan Kambalposh (2014).
Beyond translation, Professor Zaidi has made significant theoretical contributions to vernacular studies and language ideologies in South Asia. Her co-authored book, The Vernacular: Three Essays on an Ambivalent Concept (2023), critically examines the concept’s complexities in the region. She is also at the forefront of exploring the intersection of technology and literature in India. Her co-authored work, Dreaming of the Digital Divan (2022), investigates how digital platforms are reshaping the experience of poetry in Indian languages. Her scholarship also extends to emerging fields like oceanic studies, as seen in her co-authored book Ocean as Method (2022), which proposes new ways of thinking about connected maritime histories.
Professor Zaidi is a prolific author, editor, and translator with numerous publications from prestigious presses like Oxford University Press, Routledge, and Bloomsbury. Her monograph on the poet Agha Shahid Ali (2014) is a key text in the Sahitya Akademi’s ‘Makers of Indian Literature’ series.
Her influence is also marked by her significant editorial roles. She serves as the Editor of Women’s Link, an international peer-reviewed journal published by Jamia’s Sarojini Naidu Centre for Women’s Studies. She has also guest-edited special issues for prominent journals, including The Book Review (on Urdu and Hindi literature) and a special issue of MĀNOA dedicated to the works of Intizar Husain, demonstrating her leadership in shaping academic conversations in South Asian literature.
Professor Zaidi’s scholarly pursuits are rooted in a rich intellectual heritage. In the acknowledgements of her Karbalatranslation, she dedicates the book to her father, whom she describes as “a true nationalist, a lifelong Gandhian,” and expresses her deep debt to her mother, Dr. Abedi Shahnaz Ibnehasan.
Throughout her career, she has received recognition for her academic excellence, including a UGC Merit Scholarship during her Master’s degree and study grants from the American Studies Research Centre in Hyderabad. More recently, her expertise was honoured through her role as a judge for the 2024 Jawad Memorial Prize for Urdu-English Translation, affirming her standing as a leading figure in the field of literary translation. Through her extensive publications, institutional leadership, and pioneering scholarship, Professor Nishat Zaidi has established herself as a vital voice in contemporary Indian academia.