Bilal Tanweer

Student, School of the Arts, Columbia University

Bilal Tanweer is a writer, teacher and an activist. Aside from working as a journalist and a teacher, he has been involved in activism with grass-roots left-wing organizations in Pakistan. Since the imposition of martial law in Pakistan on November 3, 2007, he has been involved in organizing protests and other awareness raising activities in New York with a number of other individuals. The group he is working with right now is the US-affiliate of Students Action Committee (SAC) Pakistan. SAC in Pakistan has been instrumental in raising awareness and mobilizing people for the cause of democracy and independent judiciary. In the US, SAC has organized protests, talks and other events to shape media opinion and garner support for the deposed judiciary in the country.

Bilal Tanweer's poetry and fiction have appeared in various Pakistani literary journals. His writings on literature and politics are regularly featured in Pakistani newspapers. At present he is on a Fulbright Scholarship pursuing an MFA degree in fiction writing at Columbia University, New York.