Malaysia: Bangladeshi young writer Abu Sufian’s poems got published in an international anthology titled Dandelion in a Vase of Roses released from USA.

The anthology features the poems of 98 poets from 37 countries across the world with divergent cultural, religious and national backgrounds. Sufian has placed his position strongly in the contemporary English poetry written by diasporic writers of Bangladeshi origin.

Four of his poems got published in the anthology: ‘Duality’, ‘Cosmic Clock’, ‘Shadowy Memory’ and ‘Faceless’.

The procedure of the collection, selection and publication of the anthology took nearly a year, starting in May 2016 and finally published in April this year. The anthology is edited by a renowned figure in contemporary English poetry, Michael Lee Johnson, who is the two times nominee of the poetry award, Pushcart Prize and his poems got published in more than 30 countries.

The 326-pages-long anthology also features works of three Indian poets. They are Debasish Parashar, Rainy Sarmistha and Sourav Sarkar.

With the emerging poets, Dandelion in a Vase of Roses published poems of such popular figures in poetry as Janet Kuypers, A.J. Huffman, Joan McNerney, Gary Beck, Joanna M. Weston, Scott Thomas Outlar, Amy S. Pacini, Sandy Sue Benitez and Ken Allan Dronsfield.

Talking about his publication in the anthology Abu Sufian said, ‘I send poems to get published in journals and books but this one is very special. I did not think that my poems would be published in such an anthology where poets from all over the world are included.’

Sufian added, ‘I have been published before nationally and internationally including three international poetry anthologies. But feelings of being published in this anthology cannot be expressed in words. I am grateful to Editor Michael Lee Johnson and co-Editor Ken Allan Dronsfield.  There are poets in the anthology that I personally admire. Having been published along with them is a great feeling.’

Born in 1989, Abu Sufian is a writer, poet and social worker whose writings have appeared in many national and international publications that include newspaper, magazine, literary journals and books.

Sufian currently lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and he can be reached at his official Facebook poetry page, The Silent Poet (facebook.com/Sufian.Author).

Finishing his bachelor, he moved to Malaysia in 2013 to pursue his MA degree in English literature. During his MA studies, he has been exposed to Sufi poets like Rumi, Saadi Shirazi, Hafiz, Omar Khayyam.

So far, his poems got published in journals, magazines, books and poetry anthologies. The journals include Scarlet Leaf Review, Criterion, Literary Voyage, The Literary Herald and Clairvoyance. He has also contributed in four international poetry anthologies: Voice of Monarch Butterflies (Creatspace: 2016) , Apple Fruits of an Old Oak (Kew Gardens Press,2016) , Where Are You From? (Createspace, 2017) and Dandelion in a Vase of Roses (Johnson Publication, 2017).