Omer Tarin

Omer Tarin is the literary pen-name of poet and former college and university professor Omer Salim Khan (born 1967, Peshawar, NWFP/now KPK, Pakistan). He belongs to the well-known Tarin/Tareen clan settled in Hazara region and mostly resides near Abbottabad town, there. Tarin studied in some of Pakistan’s top schools (such as Army Burn Hall School Abbottabad and Aitchison College, Lahore), later obtaining degrees in Literature and History from Pakistan and abroad. He taught at several institutions between 1997 and 2015; and before that, he briefly worked in the Pakistani civil service from 1990 to 1995. Since 2016, he is engaged in full-time research and writing and managing his personal properietary affairs. His main literary and academic books include: A Sad Piper: Poems (1994), The Anvil of Dreams (1995) , Burnt Offerings (1996), A Harvest Season of Love Songs (1997), Spirals (2000), Sepoys and Sowars: Historical Essays (2008) , Riverbeds Flowing: Selected Poetry (1999; 2009 rev ed), Selected Shorter Essays (2011) and From Hill and Plain: Short Stories (2012). He has also written and published a sizeable number of research articles and other work. He is presently working on new projects. Apart from his literary and academic activities, Omer Tarin is also affiliated with Sufi spiritual traditions (Qadiri-Chishti-Nizami systems) and Japanese Zen Buddhist (Rinzai) training. He is also a member, fellow or associate of various international learned societies and organizations such as the Royal Asiatic Society (UK), the Royal Historical Society (UK), the Indian Military Historical Society (UK), the Kipling Society (UK) and so on.