Sascha Aurora Akhtar

Sascha Aurora Akhtar (born 1976) is a Pakistani/English poet.

Life
Born in Pakistan, Akhtar was educated there and in the United States. She received a B.A from Bennington College. In 2003 she received a fellowship to attend the Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Akhtar divides her time between Pakistan and the United Kingdom. Her first collection of poetry was published in the latter country in 2007, and was acclaimed as a "contemporary masterpiece", with The Guardian newspaper naming her as one of the 12 poets to watch.

Publications

 * The Grimoire of Grimalkin. Cambridge, UK: Salt Publishing, 2007.

Anthologized

 * Sama Ghazal Salaam UK: Poetry and Lyrics Influenced by the Persian, Arabian and Islamic Sufi Writing Traditions (edited by Chris Firth and Gareth Spark). Shutter Books, 2009.
 * Infinite Difference: Other Poetries by UK Women Poets (edited by Carrie Etter). Bristol: Shearsman Publishing, 2010.
 * In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining Itself, Volume 9 (edited by Marlowe Peerse Weaver). MW Enterprises, USA (forthcoming)
 * Vallum Magazine: A Journal of International Poetics, "The Pakistan Issue", Canada, 2012.

Bibliographical information courtesy of Poetry International.