1971 was a decisive moment in the history of the subcontinent, one that had profound social, historical and cultural reverberations throughout the region. The birth of Bangladesh, once a part of Pakistan, in many ways overturned the lessons of 1947 and laid bare the ironies and contradictions of history. Like any violent historical moment, the euphoria, nightmares and memories of 1971 have also spawned contested accounts. Tracing the journey of a nation that has celebrated fifty years of its birth, the stories, poems and ?memory texts? collected here, from Bangla, Urdu and English, are varied in their understandings of and responses to 1971. This anthology probes the intersection of literature and history through the eyes of writers and poets on both sides of the borders who attempt to capture and recount those turbulent months of euphoria and trauma. It is also an homage to all those who fought and lived through the aftermath, trying to shape modes of reconciliation and peace. Bringing together the most compelling voices from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, many translated into English for the first time, this unique volume will appeal to readers and scholars of Partition and South Asian history, as much as to keen lovers of literature. About the Author RAKHSHANDA JALIL is a writer, critic, literary historian, and translator from Urdu and Hindi. Some of her recent publications include But You Don?t Look Like a Muslim (2019), Shahryar: A Life in Poetry (2018), The Great War: Indian Writings on the First World War (2018), Liking Progress, Loving Change: A Literary History of the Progressive Writers? Movement in Urdu (2014), A Rebel and Her Cause: The Life and Work of Rashid Jahan (2014), Release and Other Stories (2011); and her translation of Intizar Husain?s novel Aagey Samandar Hai as The Sea Lies Ahead (2015), which won the German Embassy-Karachi Litfest Pakistan Peace Prize. DEBJANI SENGUPTA, a Partition scholar, writer and translator from Bangla, teaches English Literature at Indraprastha College for Women, New Delhi. She has authored The Partition of Bengal: Fragile Borders and New Identities (2016), and edited Mapmaking: Partition Stories from Two Bengals (rpt. 2011). Her co-edited volumes include Looking Back: The Partition of India, 70 Years On (2017) with Tarun K. Saint and Rakhshanda Jalil, and Women?s Writings from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh: The Worlds of Bangla and Urdu (2019) with Rakhshanda Jalil. Her translations from Bangla include works by Taslima Nasreen, Selina Hossain, Tilottama Majumdar and Suchitra Bhattacharya.