Humanities in Translation (HiT) Prize
Urdu Story Collection The Ajeeb Society wins the 2026-2027 Humanities in Translation Prize
EVANSTON, IL— The Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, and Northwestern University Press (NUP) are pleased to announce that Daniel Majchrowicz and David Boyk are the winners of the 2026-2027 Humanities in Translation (HiT) Prize for The Ajeeb Society, a collection of Urdu short stories by acclaimed writer Qazi Abdul Ghaffar. Majchrowicz and Boyk will receive a $5,000 cash prize as well as publication by Northwestern University Press.
The Ajeeb Society speaks to this year’s HiT Prize theme, hospitality, in many forms and antonyms, from meditations on proper social conduct to the treatment of strangers and of those in need. The stories, originally published in the 1930s, are based on the premise that they are from the decaying archives of the now-defunct Ajeeb (Strange) Society and present true narratives of inexplicable incidents that potential members submitted as their application for admission. Though the anonymous narrators style themselves as modern men, they find themselves bedeviled by supernatural experiences that cannot be explained away.
"The stories in The Ajeeb Society illuminate the extraordinary literary richness of early twentieth-century North India, a moment when established modes of folk and adventure storytelling traditions came into contact with modern literary experimentation and genres in translation,” says Laura Brueck, Director of the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, Professor of South Asian and Comparative Literature, and co-founder of the HiT Prize. “The result is a surprising, funny, and fascinating collection of stories that explore not only the porous boundaries between the mundane and the mysterious but also a society on the cusp of social and political transformation. Majchrowicz and Boyk instill their translations with wit, warmth, and profound cultural, historical, and linguistic insight.”
Faith Wilson Stein, Acquisitions Manager and Senior Editor for Scholarly Titles, agrees. “This vibrant translation introduces our readers to the incredible imagination of Qazi Abdul Ghaffar—who may or may not have grown up with a jinn. Wry, disorienting, and utterly original, these subtly interlinked stories illuminate the magic and mystery woven into the everyday, and Northwestern University Press is proud to have its first translation from Urdu be such a delightful and indelible read.”
The Ajeeb Society will join other esteemed HiT Prize winners in the Northwestern University Press catalog, including the forthcoming story collection The Book of Mating by Laksmi Pamuntjak and translated by Annie Tucker, Valor: Stories by Murathan Mungan and translated by Aron Aji and David Gramling, and many more. "This translation by Professors Majchrowicz and Boyk makes Qazi Abdul Ghaffar’s collection of Urdu short stories available to an entirely new audience and underscores Northwestern’s strength in South Asian languages and cultures,” says Deborah Cohen, Director of the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs and Richard W. Leopold Professor of History. “The Roberta Buffett Institute is delighted to be able to support this important contribution to global literature.”
Next year’s HiT Prize competition will open for submissions in Fall 2026.
About the Translators
DANIEL MAJCHROWICZ is an award-winning translator and scholar of South Asian literature, history, and culture. He is currently Associate Professor of South Asian Literature and Culture and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Northwestern University and is Vice President of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies, as well as a board member of the Modern Endangered Archives Program.
DAVID BOYK is a scholar of the history of Hindi-Urdu language and literature, South Asian urban and regional studies, and Bollywood cinema as well as an award-winning translator. He is Associate Professor of Instruction in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at Northwestern University where he currently serves as the Hindi-Urdu Language Program Coordinator.
About the Author
QAZI ABDUL GHAFFAR (d. 1956) was an Indian writer, translator, and journalist, as well as a prominent advocate for the revitalization of Urdu in India. During his life, he held a number of positions in government service during and after the Indian independence movement, including authoring the official Urdu translation of the Indian constitution. His literary writings include the travelogue A Portrait of the West, the novels Laila’s Letters and Majnun’s Diary, and numerous other works of fiction and nonfiction.