Najam Butt

Najamul Sahar Butt is a Lahore-based surgeon and literary translator with a unique blend of medical expertise and cultural contribution. A graduate of Peoples’ Friendship University, Moscow, he completed his MD in 1981. Certified as an interpreter in Russian and English, he co-authored several publications in leading Soviet medical journals before returning to Pakistan. Dr Najam Butt is celebrated for his Urdu translations of Russian classics, including Master aur Margarita by Bulgakov, Behar-e-Tanhai by Belyaev, and collections of stories by Gogol, Dostoyevsky, and Sholokhov. His ongoing work includes the Urdu translation of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. In recognition of his literary contributions, he was awarded the Pushkin Medal on 4 November 2017 by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and was invited to a reception hosted by President Vladimir Putin.