Education and Career
With parents in the Diplomatic service Salahdin Imam (Sal) was raised all over the world. His early education was at Lawrence College, Murree from where he went on to do his A Levels at Shrewsbury School in England. Sal then studied at Harvard from 1966-70 and returned to Bangladesh just in time for the build-up to the Liberation War, in which he was privileged to play a small role both in the field of battle and later in the accompanying public relations struggle for independence.
Subsequently he went on to become an international banker, first in Bangladesh and then assignments took him to the Middle East and Europe, ending with a stint of nearly ten years in Paris, which allowed him to polish his French. He returned to Bangladesh in 1995 and has been immersed since then in the business and cultural life of the country.
“Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it’s the answer to everything. It’s the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it’s a cactus.”
– Enid Bagnold
Early Writing
Sal acquired a taste for published writing at Harvard as a member of the Editorial Board of the college’s daily newspaper the Harvard Crimson in the course of which he wrote about the sweeping political, social and cultural events of the tumultuous times known as the late ‘60s. Among other interests he became a rock music reviewer which enabled him to attend concerts by, and get to know, some of the great musical figures of the time. The Archive of this website contains a number of these pieces as a matter of general interest and because some of them seem to have stood the test of time!
Though he kept writing during his years as an international banker this was mainly for his personal portfolio. Upon returning to Bangladesh he began to write fiction benefiting from a writers group called Writers Block, founded by the multitalented author Shazia Omar. This group has seen many of its members become acclaimed, published authors among them Shazia Omar herself, Saad Hossain and Sadaf Saaz. Sal is deeply grateful to his fellow members of Writers Block who gave him careful feedback and unfailing encouragement.
Publications and Writing Projects
Sal’s book of short stories Diana Juxtaposed and Other Unrealities, was launched at the Dhaka Lit Fest in November 2017.
He writes Op-Ed articles regularly on literary and sociopolitical topics primarily for the Daily Star and Dhaka Tribune. Many of these pieces have also been included in this website’s Archive.
Having divested himself of most other business and personal interests Sal is now occupied full-time with writing projects. He is writing his memoirs of the late ‘60s which cover college life and the counterculture in the US as well as his experiences during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. He continues to write short stories and has also embarked on a novel which seems to be revolving around the paradox of how a typical Third World country manages to flourish socially, culturally and economically while also harbouring ghastly excesses.