Muhammed Zafar Iqbal (born December 23,1952) is a popular Bangladeshi writer of children’s books and science-fiction. He is also an accomplished scientist, academician and researcher. He obtained his PhD from the University of Washington in 1982. He had a distinguished career at Caltech and then worked for the Bell Labs in New Jersey. He has a number of publications and patents to his name.

Following the footsteps of his elder brother Humayun Ahmed, Zafar Iqbal started writing since his college days and became very popular with his teen-adventure novels, a rarity in Bangla literature in the late 1970s. His writing career was interrupted when he came to study and work in the USA, However, he always stayed close to the soul and causes of Bangladesh. He returned to Bangladesh in early 1990s, leaving his successful career in the US, and joined a Shahjalal University of Science and Technology to teach Physics and Computer Science. After his return, he took up the causes of promoting science to young children, building a first-rate science education program at the university, and promoting freedom of thought. His latter cause and his opposition to the religious fundamentalism put him in direct conflict with the religious fanatics.

Although he writes fiction and non-fiction for grown-ups, he is at his creative best with his novels for adolescents. The young people in his novels are everyday boys and girls, seek and find adventure in their otherwise unremarkable and modest lives. They go through tough times with wonderful sense of optimism and wide eyed curiosity. A couple of his novels have been made into motion pictures.

Filmography

• Dipu Number 2