Speaker Biographies

Naima Afrin is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Information Technology & Sciences (UITS). She completed M. A. in Applied Linguistics & ELT from Dhaka University in 2004. She presented papers in the 4th International Online Language conference (IOLC) in Malaysia, ICOPE 2012 in India and LIROD 2012 in Thailand. Her areas of interests are in Phonetics & Phonology, Second Language Acquisition and English Novels. Kasfia Yasmin Anwa is doing MA in Literatue in English and cultural Studies in the Department of English, Jahagirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka. E-mail: kasfiayasminanwa@yahoo.com Ruhul Asfia has been working in a private university (Primeasia University) as a Senior Lecturer in English for more than three years. Previously, she had worked in another private university (World University of Bangladesh) as a Lecturer for more than one year. She had taken classes as a part-time faculty in the department of English in a private university (Southeast University). She completed her Honours and Masters Degree from Jahangirnagar University. She has published a paper entitled East and West in Kim and Gora in Crossings: ULAB Journal of English Studies, Vol 2, No. 1, Fall 2009, ISSN 2071-1107. She has always been interested in Post-colonial Literature, Media and Literature, Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies. For the time being, she has taken a keen interest in Nietzsches Philosophy of the Future, relating that philosophy to todays politics of ideology and ethical codes, and the ways of ones losing individuality and surrendering to the authority to set ones own codes of values and ethics. Arpana Awwal is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of English, Eastern University. She has done her B.A. (Hons) and M.A. from the Department of English (English Literature) from Jahangirnagar University. She has co-authored the article titled The Dialectics of Liberation: The Socio Political Philosophy of Du Bois and Nazrul in the journal- Identity, Culture and Politics: An Afro-Asian Dialogue from CODERSIA. Her area of interest is gender studies and comparative literature. Rebeka Badiozzaman finished her BA in English and Humanities from ULAB, Dhaka. She has recently enrolled in M.A. in ELT at Presidency University. She was a Research Coordinator in British Council Bangladesh, and member of ELT Department (Asst Materials Developer) at the BBC Mediaaction, Bangladesh (BBC JANALA).

Kalyani Banerjee is a teacher of English literature of a government college in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She completed her M.A in English literature from Jahangirnagar University. Currently she is doing a research on diaspora writing. Music is her passion and her dream is to serve her country all through her life. Antara Basak is Lecturer in ELT, Daffodil International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is an M.A. in ELT, University of Dhaka. She is an active member of BELTA. She presented paper in the 17th NELTA conference in Nepal. E-mail: Arnab Dutta is undergraduate final year student in the Department of Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. His research interest covers Comparative Literature methodology, Orality, Print-culture, and Reading practice in South Asia. His major publication includes Firiwlr Dk: A linguistic enquiry on the peddlers trade-cry in and around Kolkata, in Coalescence (2012) and Pressed in the Capital City, London: The Role of London in Bengali Book and Printing History in The London Reader 1 (forthcoming). Touhida Easmin is Lecturer in English, Asian University of Bangladesh. She did her M.A. in English Literature from Jahangirnagar University. In recent future, she intends to work on different issues of culture and their relation with the socio-political scenario of the world today.

Jannatul Farhana is a lecturer in English at AIUB, Dhaka. She completed her B.A in English and M.A. in English literature from Jahangirnagar University. Her area of interests includes Romantic Literature and Postcolonial Studies. E-mail:farhana_jannatul@yahoo.com Rudrani Gangopadhyay is undergraduate final year student at the Department of English, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. Her research interest includes Classical European Literature, Crime Fiction, Fantasy, Postcolonial Literature, Queer Studies, Popular Culture. She wrote a number of papers including Portrayal of Warrior Ethics in Edward Zwick's The Last Samurai and Patrick White's Voss:: A Queer Portrayal of Settlers in Contemporary Australia. Sajib Kumar Ghosh is doing MA in Applied Linguistics and ELT at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh. His areas of interest are English Language Teaching, SLA Research, Applied Linguistics, Cultural Studies, and English Literature. E-mail: sajibkg@gmail.com. Rabeya Binte Habib recently completed MA in ELT from East West University and also worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the same university. Her professional interests include phonetics and phonology, teacher education, and curriculum and materials development. She presented papers at several national and international conferences in and outside the country. Professor Rebecca Haque was Chairperson, Dept. of English, University of Dhaka, from 15 Nov 2009 to 15 Feb 2012. Presently, she is working on her doctoral dissertation, titled Culture, Imagination, and the Female Personality, methodologically incorporating psychoanalytic criticism. Her published books are Commencement Poems and Occasional Essays (2003, & 2009), Women, Gender and Literature (2003), and (co-editor) Hemingway: A Centenary Tribute (2007). Her other areas of interest with publications are: contemporary British and American fiction, South Asian and diaspora literature, film studies, and creative writing. English translations of three Bengali short stories are included in Galpa: Short Stories from Women from Bangladesh (Saqi:2005). She received a gold medal (Univ. of Dhaka ,1980), was a Killlam scholar at Dalhousie Univ., Halifax, Nova Scotia (1990-91), and received a Certificate of Distinction for TwentiethCentury American Interdisciplinary Studies at UCLA and Vanderbilt Univ. (1995). Sadeka Sabrina Haque is a Lecturer in the department of English at Jahangirnagar University, savar, Dhaka. She has previously worked as Faculty member at BRAC University and Comilla University. She has attended three International Conferences in Bangladesh, presented one paper. Her areas of interests include American Literature, Post-colonial Literature, cultural studies, media,literature, mass communication and Film Studies. Muhammed Shahriar Haque, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, East West University. He has presented more than 45 academic papers in international conferences, conducted numerous trainings and workshops, published over 25 scholarly articles, and co-edited two books. He completed his first Ph.D. in 2005, specializing in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) from University of Malaya, Malaysia, and at present, he is pursuing a second Ph.D. in educational technology.

Syeda Nadia Hasan is a Lecturer in the Department of English, East West University. She obtained her Masters Degree in English Literature from the University of Dhaka in the year 2010. She started teaching at Southeast University where she taught for one year. Her areas of interest include American Literature and Cultural Studies. Rumana Hossain is Assistant Professor of English at Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her areas of expertise include English Language Teaching, Sociolinguistics, and Psycholinguistics. A member of BELTA and Asia TEFL, she has made a couple of publications including Intended Meaning versus

Negotiated Meaning of Advertisements: Patterns of Resistance by Consumers and Code-switching in Bangladesh: A Socio-Psychological Study.

Nujhat Nuari Islam presented two papers. One is at BELTA National Conference and another one is at the seminar of International Islamic University of Chittagong (IIUC). At present, she is working as a teacher in South Point School and College, Bangladesh. She is looking forward to complete M.phil and PhD.

Israt Jahan has been working as senior lecturer at the department of English, East West University since 2009. Before working at East West, she has worked at Primeasia University. She has completed her graduation and post-graduation in English Literature from the department of English, Jahangirnagar University. Shahriar Kabir is currently working as a Lecturer at the Department of English in University of Asia Pacific. He completed both his Honours and Masters from Jahangirnagar University. His area of interest includes literary theories, Postcolonial Literature, Film and Literature, and applicatory arenas of literature.

Sabrina Karim is Senior Lecturer at the Department of English Studies, State University of Bangladesh. She has done her B.A. (Hons) and M.A.in English Literature from the Department of English, Jahangirnagar University. She has co-authored two articles titled Financial Expert: A Marxist Fable, published in the Journal of SUB, Vol 2, Issue 2, December 2010 and Use of Journey for Exploration of Carpe Diem in the Epic of Gilgamesh, published in Journal of SUB, Vol 3, Issue 1, January 2012. Kazi Ashraf Uddin is working as a Lecturer at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh in the Dept. of English. Previously, he worked as a Lecturer of English at BRAC University, Bangladesh. He completed his MA from the University of Bordeaux, France. He presented papers in international conferences both in Bangladesh and India. His area of interest includes postcolonial and postmodern literature, film studies, critical theory, gender and cultural studies and Shakespeare. Mst. Shahanaz Khanam obtains M.A. in Applied Linguistics and ELT and B.A .(Hons) in English from Dhaka University, Bangladesh. She is a PhD(Fellow) at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Prime University, Mirpur-1, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her areas of interests cover ELT and SLA.

Dilshad Marium is currently studying at Department of English, Jahangirnagar University. Her areas of interests include postcolonialism, gender, postmodernism and metaphysical poetry .In future, she wants to continue her education in Women and Gender Studies. Azadeh Mehrpouyan, from Iran, is a Ph. D student in English literature in Bharati Viyapeeth University, India. She has a 15 year-old teaching experience to bachelor and master students in Iran, India and France. Many articles of hers were published in international journals in the fields of English literature and teaching. Also, she has participated in various intentional conferences in U.K, Malaysia, Iran, Turkey and India. Her areas of interest include literary criticism and American literature. Zahidur Rahaman Nahid accomplished graduation and post graduation in English from Jahangirnagar University. Now, he is working as a lecturer at Prime University in the Department of English, Mirpur-1, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Shibaji Mridha, Lecturer, Dept. of English, Eastern University, Bangladesh, is interested in Minority Studies, Cultural Studies, Marxism, and Postmodernism. He completed his M.A. in English (Literature) and

B.A. (Hons) in English from the University of Dhaka. His first paper was titled Insanity and Gender: A Study of Shakespeares Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear dated April 2009. Arafat Mohammad Noman is currently doing his post graduation at Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka. He is taking English Literature and Cultural Studies as his major and his topic of interest(s) is post modernism, post-colonialism, and cultural studies. Arafat Noman has deep interest in research works and has presented papers in different international conferences. E-mail: arafatnoman@gmail.com Golam Rabbani is in teaching profession for almost five years. Currently, he is a Lecturer at the Department of English of Jahangirnagar University. He has more than five publications in scholarly journals. He also has presented papers in nine international conferences and seminars. Before joining JU, he has held the position of Lecturer at East West University and Eastern University in Dhaka. His areas of interest include Cultural Studies, Postcolonial Literature, Media, Literature and Mass Communication, American Literature, Gender and Literature, Postmodern Literature, Literary Theory and Theatre Studies. Golam Rabbani is into creative writing, and he writes articles for Daily Sun on regular basis.

Abu Saleh Md. Rafi is a young researcher and his area of interest includes comparative literature, postcolonial literature, gender studies and media. He obtained his B.A. (Hons.) and M.A. in English from Jahangirnagar University. He is currently working as a lecturer in the Department of English at Bangladesh University, Dhaka. Chowdhury Mustazabur Rahman, with a different academic background, completed his graduation in literature because of his immense interest in literature and culture. Now in MA, courses like film and media have ignited his appetite since he wants to build a career in media. A movie-freak, he watches movies almost everyday and works as a Radio Jockey in Radio Today fm 89.6. This provides him the opportunity to communicate with people which is an additional help for his study in media and popular culture. Mohammad Kasifur Rahman is doing his MA in Literatures in English and Cultural Studies at the Department of English, Jahangirnagar University. His areas of interest include Postcolonial studies and Cultural studies. E-mail: kasifrahman@yahoo.com Anindita Roy is Lecturer in English, AIUB, Dhaka. She topped the chart in M.A. in Literature in the Dept. of English, Jahangirnagar University. Her areas of interest include American literature, Postcolonial literature, and Cultural Studies. E-mail: aninditarb@yahoo.com Sumit Roy is in BA 2nd year in the Dept. of Drama And Dramatics, Jahangirnagar University. He practiced Indian vocal classical music for 13 years and, now, composes music as a freelancer. He was an ambassador of Bangladesh in the International Childrens Convention 2005 in Fukuoka, Japan. He has received 5 national awards for folk and Indian classical songs including National-Television Child-Artist competition Notun Kuri 2004. His areas of interest include different types of performing arts forms, Indian religions, Gender and Sexuality, and Postmodernism. Photography and set designing are his favorite lesisure activities.

Mohammed Mizanur Rashid Rupok was born in 14th November, 1989 in Dhaka. He completed his SSC and HSC from Bangladesh International School and College, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He successfully completed his Honors in English Literature and Language from Jahangirnagar University and is currently enrolled in the Masters in Literature program from the same institute. He is also functioning as a Language Instructor for the US embassy in Dhaka.

Sharmin Afroz Shantu is currently doing her masters in English Literature and Cultural Studies in Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka. Her area of interests is post colonialism, cultural studies and gender studies. She participated in the youth leadership program in 2009 and wrote several articles for different magazines. She has also presented her research papers in several international conferences. Email: s.a.shantu@gmail.com Mohammad Alamgir Sikder studied at Jahangirnagar University. He has been teaching at the Department of English, East West University since January, 2012. Apart from teaching, he is keenly interested in composing poems, writing short stories, and doing research. Watching movies, listening classical songs, reading, and traveling are his prominent hobbies. E-mail: Tanzina Tahereen did her honors and masters in English (Applied Linguistics and ELT) from Dhaka University. She is now a lecturer of English Department in East West University, Bangladesh and currently involved in various ELT and language related research like use of language in different social settings and classroom management. Md. Afaz Uddin, passed out from Jahangirnagar University with B.A. (Hons.) and M.A in Applied Linguistics and ELT. Currently teaching as a lecturer in the department of English Language & Literature at Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Trishal, Mymensigh. Interested in the Study of Language vis-vis literature and culture, Translation Studies, New Literatures in English, World Theatre. E-mail: Sarah Zahed is a Lecturer at the Department of English, East West University. She has completed her Master of Arts in English and Bachelors of Arts in English from East West University with an academic distinction of Summa Cum Laude. Postcolonial literature, Cultural Studies and revolutionary poetics and poetry are her areas of interests.

Ismat Zarin is a lecturer in Eastern University at the Department of English. She did her M.A. in Applied Linguistics and ELT from University of Dhaka. She has done a Diploma in French from IML, DU. She has presented papers in Saul Bellow Conference at the Department of English, University of Dhaka in 2008 and in the 2nd International Conference (Thinking Otherwise-with/in English Studies) of JU in 2011.One of her papers was also presented at The Fifth International Conference on College English held on October 22, 2011 at National Cheng-chi University, Taipei, Taiwan.