Abdullah
Hussain
Hussain
rose to fame with his novel. udaas naslein He
learnt his craft from men like hemingway and camus.
But he is not imitative His strong realism earthliness
and sense of history is something rare in Urdu.
|
 |
He sees his characters as permanent exiles who de-
rive their strenght as well as traumas from theirsense
of alien- ation come to violent ends and are often
at adds with their sur- roundings. His other works
include Nashaib Qaid Nadaar log.
Ahmad
Nadeem Qasmi
The
poet, Short-story writer and columnist was born
in Sargodha district. He edited several literary
magazines and wrote columns on social and political
issues for several newspapers. |
 |
Editor of dialy Imroze from 1953 to 1959, Ahmad Nadeem
Qasmi has been the editor and publisher of a prestigious
literary magazine, Funoon, since 1963. He's also working
as director of literary organisation, Majlis-i-Taraqqi
adab, Lahore since 1947. Qasmi began writing under
the influence of Progressive Writing Movement before
partition, but braved all changes and kept up with
his writing. a versatile writer, he was written extensively
both in prose and verse. He depicts rural life of
the Punjab with all its romance and proverty and captures
with the sad plight of the village dweller. Imtiaz
Ali Taj called him "Premchand of Punjab"
Ali
Abbas Jalapuri
The subsuming ideological framework clamped down on
learning in Pakistan has been very detrimental to
scholarship. Ali Abbas Jalalpuri made concerted attempts
to bring forth a distinction between various intellectual
disciples, seeing and assessing them in their true
shape rather than being treated as reflections of
dogmatic religious reality. He analysed Iqbal and
categorised him as following the tradition of scholasticism
rather than of philosophy in his Iqbal Ka Ilmul Kalam
and emphasised the significance of Wahdatul Wajood
in the history of ideas expressed through the poetic
tradition of the Punjab. Ali Abbas had read his philosophy
right and therefore could relate literature, music
and religion in the context of our history in their
proper sequences. His various books are the stages
of enlightenment that he stood for and fearlessly
advocate. He mapped the history of ideas as they developed
and then travlled from one culture and civilisation
to another, changing various hues. This placed the
body of ideas inherited by us in a definite perspective
as the great cross current of ideas have been treated
by him as enriching the local tradition of thinking
and feeling rather than corrupting it as has been
evaluated by the official ideologues of the country
Ashfaq
Ahmad
| As
a short-story writer and play-wright, Ashfaq Ahmad
is a naturalist who loves romances and nature.
|
 |
His
short stories reveal that there is much more to life
than misery and woe; there is beauty and lovelines
which can be best appreciated when viewed against
the background oa natural scenery. His short story,
Gaddarya (shepherd) brought him fame as great short
story writer in the generation of fiction writers
that appread on the literary scene after the creation
of Pakistan. He blends romanticism with realism in
his early works. He wrote, produced and ected in a
popular weekly radio feature, Talqeen Shah, for more
than quarter of a century that became icon in Pakistan's
broadcasting history. Ashfaq Ahmad's contribution
to television drama ranges from Eik Muhabbat So Afsane,
ona of the most popular series of Pakistan Television
in the early 70s, to Tota Kahani in the 80s. Ashfaq
turned to religious in his later writings. He also
worked as director of a literary organisation, Markazi
Urdu Board and Urdu Science Board, for several years.
Bano
Qudsia
| Bano
born in 1928 in Ferozepur, India and moved with
her family to Lahore during the Partition. Her
father, a landlord with a bachelors degree in
agriculture, died when Bano was very young. She
attended school in Dharamsala in eastern India
before moving to Lahore. Her mother was an educationist,
and this inspired the young Bano to develop a
keen interest in academics, which turned her into
a conscientious student |
 |
Her
marriage to Ashfaque Ahmad consummated the artist
in her, though she says she never discusses any of
her works with her husband nor has the writer-spouse
ever tried to influence her writings. "We work
very independently. Writing a book is like bearing
a child and you do not share that with anyone. God
is your only confidante. It is also like falling in
love. You keep it personal and private."
In 1951, she completed her master's degree in Urdu
from the Government College Lahore.
Author of innumerable short stories, novelettes, television
and radio plays, besides some memorable stage plays,
Bano's writings have a strong association with life's
vicissitudes
Though many term her novels and plays 'indigestible,'
it is true to say that she is one of the few contemporary
Urdu writers who have used the everyday philosophy
of life as thesis her writings. The strength of conviction
in her prose is unmistakable. Her short stories like
Baz Gasht, Amar Bail, Doosra Darwaza and Twajju ki
Talib, the latter, a stimulating collection of short
stories, have mustered a vast readership. Of her novels,
none has received as much recognition as Raja Gidh
which centers around the forbidden truth. The plot
builds around the symbol of a vulture that feeds on
dead flesh and carcasses. The moral sought implies
that indulgence in the forbidden leads to physical
and mental degeneration.
Bapsi
Sidhwa
Bapsi
Sindwa can truly be called a born storyteller.
All four novels Crow Eaters, The Bride, Ice-Candy
Man which was released in US under the title
Cracking India and AN American Brat are the
hallmark of Sindhwa's superb writing skills. |
 |
They have a freshness about them and see an element
of humour even in tragedy. A graduate from Kinnaird
College Lahore, she began writing in her twenties.
She is the first Pakistani writer whose novel Ice-Candy
Man, a novel about Partition set in Lahore, has been
filmed by an internationally acclaimed Canadian director
Deepa Mehta, under the title Earth. In 1991 Ice-Candy
Man (Cracking India) Sindhwa's third novel, was decleard
a New York Notable Book, received the Literature Prize
in Germany and was nominated by the American Library
Association as a Notable Book the same year. She is
the recipient of many national and international recognition.
Her novels have been translated into German, French,
Italian and Russian.
Faiz
Ahmad Faiz
| Faiz
Ahmad Faiz was born to a landed, educated family
in Sialkot of pre-partition Punjab on February
13, 1911. He grew up surrounded by literature
with a father who was a friend to many writers,
including Muhammad Iqbal. |
 |
His schooling took him to Lahore where he
studied Arabic and English literature. His literary
studies laid the foundation for him to create a modern
Urdu verse that took on larger social and political
issues of his times yet retained the polished style
and diction of the ghazal. His death in 1984 was a
loss to the Urdu literary world.
He
began his career as the editor of the leftist English-language
daily, Pakistan Times, as well as the managing editor
for the Urdu daily, Imroz. Although his first volume
of poetry, Naqsh-e-Faryadi, was published in Lucknow
in 1941; he became widely known after the 1952 publication
of Dast-e Saba, poems written during his imprisonment
by the Pakistani Government. After the Miltary coup
led by Zia ul haq in 1979, Faiz lived in self-exile
in Beirut writing for the Afro-Asia Writers Association
journal, Lotus, until his return to Pakistan in 1982.
As
a Marxist Faiz Ahmad Faiz rejected the notion of "art
for art's sake". He has been described as a "committed"
poet who used his simple verse to probe not only beauty
and love but also humanism and justice. His imprisonment
was evident in more than his two collections of poems
written during his political detention. His translator
Shiv K Kumar sees his imprisonment as a "metaphor
that embodies his poetic vision." Aside from
poet, Faiz was a journalist, songwriter, and activist.
Faiz
was a nominee for the Nobel Prize and in 1963 was
the first Asian poet to win the Lenin Peace Prize.
He recorded for the Library of Congress in Lahore
in 1977.
Ghulam Ahmad Perwez
Born in Batala in the Indian Punjab, Ghulam Ahmad
Pervez belonged to a family of Chishti-Nizami sufis.
His grandfather, Hakim Maulvi Raheem Baksh, tought
him Arabic and trained him in Islamic studies. He
met Allama Iqbal in Lahore and on his suggestion got
in touch with Hafiz Muhammad Jairajpuri, the scholar
moulded his views of Islam. In 1955, he retired from
the post of assistant secretary in the central secretariat
in Karachi to devote himself to the study of Islam.
It was in New Delhi that he began publishing his journal
Tolu-e-Islam in 1938 at the behest of Allama Iqbal
and the Quaid-e-Azam. Through his writings in the
journal, he defended the Pakistan movement and took
issue with Gandhi and other Congress leaders.After
the creation of Pakistan, Pervaz dedicated Tolu-e-Islam
to debates on the nature of Quran. The most valuable
contribution to Islamic learning were his classification
of Quranic themes and etymology of Quranic words in
his book Lughat-ul-Quran and his work on the tradition
of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) Maqam-i-Hadith. He argued
that hadith can neither abrogate nor supercede the
Quran and that hadith which jibes with the quran and
does not insult the Prophet should be accepted. His
weekly lectures in Lahore attracted a lot of educated
followers as he challenged the authority of his contemporary,
Maulana Maudoodi. Pervaz's work on the Quran remains
unprecedented as a rationaal gloss in Islamic scholarship.
Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum
Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum was a teacher par exellence.
As professor of Persian he represented sound academic
tradition, which was considered the fountainhead of
higher learning. Sufi Tabassum's poetic talent encompassed
three languages; Urdu, Persian and Punjabi. He was
a master of prosoby and even poets like Faiz were
constrained to consult him in the craft of poetry.
His poetry grows out of the extreme romance of the
classical tradition and the pain and suffering that
the modern man has to go through. His vast repertoire
of translations into Punjabi of Urdu and Persian poetry
is also work of great merit. For about fifty years
he was one of the most prominent speaker at the various
astistic and intellectual formus, like radio, television
and the literary circles. He brought to these forums
a very rich and comprehensive worldview, which was
the outcome of his vast reading, very rich life and
a vibrant personality. A man full of life till the
very end he will also be lovingly remembered for the
poems that he wrote for children. He created the immortal
character of 'Tot Batot' which has been the most constant
companion of the children.
Habib
Jalib
Habib
Jalib was a populist poet. He was a clear departure
from the mainstream Urdu poetic tradition where
the poet preferred to live in his ivory tower
away from the rough and tumble active life. |
 |
He
was in fact much closer to the Punjabi tradition where
the poet was also an activist fighting on all front,
usually either landing in jail or forced into exile.Going
to jail was thus a professional hazard because Jalib
was irrepressible and could not hold back in the face
of repressive mearsures by successive government.
A totally diapossesed man, he was fearless in his
confrontation with the government and was therefore
much feared by the powers that be. He had to be populist
because he was topical and engaged the anti-people
policiees in his verses which became instant slogans
and were more deadly than the deadliest of bullets.
His verses galvanised scattered opposition and inspired
hope among the common urban dwellers. These easy to
understand verses thus were more effective as their
outreach was more than thar of the more respected
poets.
Hafeez
Jalandhari
Born
in Jalandhari, Indian Punjab hafeez Jalandhari
migrated to Lahore after the Pakistan. He made
up for the lack formal education with self-study
and hard work and carved his place in the poetic
pantheon. |
 |
He also worked as director of Song Publicity Organisation
during the World War 11. He also established a publishing
house called Honhaar Book depot, in Lahore. His fame
rests on his long poem, Shahnama-i-Islam, which in
the manner of Fridouse's Shahnama, is a record of
the glorious history of Islam in verse. He also wrote
the national anthem of Pakistan. He is unique in Urdu
poetry for the enchanting melody of his voice and
lilting rhythms of his songs and lyrics. His poetry
generally deals with romantic, religious, patriotic
and natural themes. He chooses his themes, images
and tunes from the subcontinent and his language is
a fine blend of Hindi and Urdu diction, reflecting
the composite culture of South Asia.
Kishwar
Naheed
Born
in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1940,
Kishwar Naheed is one of the best- known feminist
poets of Pakistan. In a field dominated by traditional
male voices, Naheed, writing in Urdu, was a
pioneer of a new, distinctively feminine voice
and has produced over the span of thirty years
a body of work that is innovative, defiant,
political, and self-aware. |
 |
Her poetry dared to go beyond the prescribed accepted
'feminine' realms to include hitherto unmined fields
of female sexuality, politics, and social issues.
In an interview with Rakhshanda Jalil for the Indian
daily The Hindu (11/4/2001), Kishwar Naheed explained
her writing as an attempt to redefine the man-woman
relationship. Rejecting being branded as a radical
or a bohemian, she declared herself "a realist"
who "never let herself get pushed around by men
or by circumstances."
Born
into a traditional family that moved to Lahore, Pakistan
during the 1947 Partition of the sub-continent, Naheed
had to fight to pursue an education in a milieu where
women did not go to school and "were not allowed
to speak to boys." She studied at home and obtained
a high school diploma through correspondence courses,
but went on to receive a masters degree in Economics
from Punjab University.
Naheed's
first collection of poetry, Lab-i goya, published
in 1968, won the prestigious Adamjee Prize of Literature.
This collection of traditional ghazals was followed
by a collection of nazms, by translations of foreign
poetry, and by many works in free verse. She also
wrote for children and for the daily Jang, published
her autobiography in 1994 (it appeared the following
year in India), and in 2001 saw her collected poetic
work released in a 1312 page volume entitled Dasht-i
qais men Lail'a. Her daily columns in Jang were also
collected and published in 1999. Her poetry has been
translated into English and Spanish and her famous
poem "We, sinful women" gave its title to
a path-breaking anthology of contemporary Urdu feminist
poetry translated and edited by Rukhsana Ahmad, published
in London by The Women's Press in 1991.
Kishwar
Naheed has held the position of Director General of
Pakistan National Council of the Arts before her retirement,
has edited a prestigious literary magazine Mah-i naw,
and has founded an organization named Hawwa (Eve)
whose goal is to help homebound women become financially
independent through cottage industries and the marketing
of handicrafts.
The
Library of Congress has twenty-five works by Naheed
in its collection. She read for the Library in Lahore
on December 13, 1977.
Qurratulain
Hyder
Born
in 1927 in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Qurratulain
Hyder is one of the most celebrated of Urdu
fiction writers. A trendsetter in Urdu fiction,
she began writing at a time when the novel was
yet to take deep roots as a serious genre in
the poetry-oriented world of Urdu literature.
She shook it out of its stagnation and purged
it of its obsession with fantasy, romance and
frivolous realism. |
 |
She instilled in it a new sensibility and brought
into its fold strands of thought and imagination hitherto
unexplored.
A
prolific writer, she has so far written some 12 novels
and novellas, four collections of short stories and
has done a significant amount of translation of classics.
Aag Ka Darya (River of Fire), her magnum opus, is
a landmark novel that explores the vast sweep of time
and history. It tells a story that moves from the
fourth century BC to the post-Independence period
in India and Pakistan, pausing at the many crucial
epochs of history.
She
received the Jnanpith Award in 1989 for her novel
Aakhir-e-Shab ke Hamsafar (Travellers Unto the Night).
She received the Sahitya Akademi Award, in 1967, Soviet
Land Nehru Award, 1969, Ghalib Award, 1985, Jnanpith
Award, 1989, and was conferred Padma Shri by the Government
of India for her outstanding contribution to Urdu
literature. She served as a guest lecturer at the
universities of California, Chicago, Wisconsin, and
Arizona.Her
books have been translated into English and other
languages. The Library of Congress has twenty-one
books by her.
Manto
Sa‘adat
Hasan Manto (1912-1955) is the author of Urdu
social realist literature in terms of the style
and content of his writing, and in terms of
his ambiguous relationship with the Progressive
Writers’ Movement. |
 |
Both
Chughtai and Manto were influenced by Soviet socialist
literature and employed styles that were explicitly
realistic in their representation of character and
the human condition. However, both authors were also
greatly influenced by Freud’s work, which inspired
them to write openly about aspects of human sexuality.
Ultimately it was this focus on sexuality that alienated
him from the Progressive Writers’Movement, despite
his continued devotion to social realism.
Mushtaq
Ahmad Yousafi
Born in Tonk, rajistan, Mushtaq Ahmad Yousafi graduated
from Aligarh University and worked for several banks
before the president of the united bank Ltd in 1974.
Yousafi is arguably one of the most original humourist
in Urdu. His carefully crafted prose is a marvel in
lucidity. While the situation and characters in his
writings are funny enough, there is nothing vitriolic
about them. There is considerable compassion in his
point of view and a healthy tolerance of human foibles.
His first book was made up of sketches but gradually
his writing has become a composite genre in which
sketch-writing is generally mixed with fiction, realism
and humour. His book, Aab-i-Gum, is a milestone in
Urdu prose.
Najam Hussain Syed
| when
Urdu became the medium of instruction in the Punjab,
the educated Punjabis switched to Urdu and their
monther tongue was reduced to being the language
of the street as higher discourse wall conducted
in either Urdu or English. Punjabi poetry too
stoped to grow as most of the poets started to
express themselves in Urdu. |
 |
Poetry which was streetwise with sotck phrases and
stock sentiments Contonued to be wrutten or recited
orally in the villages and less educated sections
of the urben population. The concerns which were ushered
in the changing realities of colonialism and then
freedom in a changed world remained outside the purview
of Punjabi poetry. Najam Hussain Syed's Punjabi poetry
is a departure from the stock imagery, metre and sensilility
because it explores areas of experience which have
evolved in a much larger context. The poet is actuly
aware of his contemporary world and also is sensitive
to the rich heritage and tradition of the last seven
hundred years of poetry. The great divide imposed
by language between the urban and rural, the illiterate
and the highly educated has been addressed by his
poetry. In the plays too important characters and
events of punjabi histary have been treated in a manner
as to represent the dilemma of commitment and authentic
existence.
Nasir Kazmi,
Born in Ambala (Indian Punjab) Nasir Kazmi migrated
to Lahore after the partition. He worked for Radio
Pakistan, Lahore and earned fame as a poet of ghazal
(lyric) but lived in extreme poverty. Bearing the
marks of Mir Taqi Mir, Nasir Kazmi developed Urdu
ghazal into a modern art-form, transmiting the classical
tradition into something modern and uinque. His lyrics
transformed the traditional pessimism of the lyric
into an expression of the sorrow, despair and anguish
of the modern man. His poetry expresses the tragedly
of the bloodshed and migration at the time of partition
of the sub-continent.
Noon
Meem Rashid
It
was said by the begining of the century that
Urdu poetry had lost its essence as it got bogged
down in the craft of versification. Many attempts
had been made to liberate it from the restrictions
of stylisation but it was Rashid who gave it
the impetus of breaking away from the traditional
pattern of prosody. |
 |
Inspired by the European poets and egged on by his
teacher, Patras Bokhari, Rashid dwelled on the blank
verse intraducing it successfully to dispel the widely
held view that our poetry was not possible without
it. He was part of the new movement that brought in
modern sensibility to support the experimentation
in the formal patterns of poetry. The theme of his
poems were the serve humiliation in being subjugated
and the various states of emotional distress that
creat a certain kind of character, linking it to existential
anguish. This new formal pattern also had to do away
with much of traditional imagery and rhythmic patterns,
and he was able to creat imagery and from sources
which had not been considered poetic material. His
poetry therefore was not always easy as it demanded
agility on the part of the reader to appreciate a
totally new area of experience
Shaikh
Ayaz,
Born
in a middle class Shikarpur family on March
23, 1923, Shaikh Ayaz was a lawyer by profession.
He also served as vice-chancellor of the Sindh
University. But poetry was his forte. He began
composing poetry as a zealous youth in 1940.
This was an era of reawakening in Sindhi literature,
as in the literature of other major laguagues
of the subcontinent. |
 |
In fact this was when Sindhi literature emerged from
its early and mediaeval expressions and subjects and
started responding to new cultural and social demands.
A new generation of progressive writers, poets and
artists came to dominate the literary scene.
who died in Karachi on Sunday, 28th December 1997,
was a towering figure of Sindhi literature, known
and respected nationally and by Sindhi-speaking people
all over the world. He was equally acclaimed in progressive
circles for his contribution to the advancement of
human values. Shaikh Ayaz revolutionised almost all
genres of Sindhi literature and is rightfully called
the doyen of the 20th century Sindhi writers and poets.
Parveen
Shakir
Parveen
Shakir was born on 24th November, 1952 in Karachi,
Pakistan. She was highly educated with two masters
degrees, one in English literature and one in
linguistics. She also held a Ph.D and another
masters degree in Bank Administration. |
 |
She was a teacher for nine years before she joined
the Civil Service and worked in the Customs department.
In 1986 she was appointed the second secretary, CBR
in Islamabad.
A number of books of her poetry have been published.
In chronological order, they are Khushboo (1976),
Sad-barg (1980), Khud-kalaami (1990), Inkaar (1990)
and Maah-e-Tamaam (1994). Her first book, Khushboo,
won the Adamjee award. Later she was awarded the Pride
of Performance award, which is the highest award given
by the Pakistan government.
On 26th December, 1994, on her way to work, her car
collided with a truck and the world of modern Urdu
poetry lost one of its brightest stars.
Parveen
Shakir initially wrote under the pen-name of 'Beena'.
She considered Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi her 'ustad' and
used to called him 'Ammujaan'. She was married to
Dr. Nasir Ahmed but got divorced from him sometime
before her untimely demise in 1994. They had one son
- Murad Ali.
Qateel
Shifai
| Qateel
Shifai was born on 24th December, 1919. His actual
name is Aurangzeb Khan. Qateel Shifai is his nom
de plume, the pen-name under which he is known
in the world of Urdu poetry. "Qateel"
is his "takhallus" and "Shifai"
is in honour of his ustaad Hakim Mohammed 'Shifa'
whom he considered his mentor. |
 |
His
father's death at an early age, forced Qateel to quit
his education and start his own sporting goods shop.
Success eluded him and he moved to Rawalpindi, where
he worked at a transport company for a monthly salary
of Rs.60. Finally in 1946, Nazir Ahmed called him
to Lahore and made him the assistant editor of the
monthly 'Adab-e-Latif'.
Qayeel
Shifai's first ghazal was printed in the Lahore weekly
'Star', whose editor was Qamar Jalalabadi. In January
1947, a Lahore based film producer asked Qateel to
pen the songs for his forthcoming film. His first
film as a lyricist was "Teri Yaad". Since
then he has won numerous awards as a lyricist. He
has had quite a few of his poem collections published,
one of which being "Mutriba" which was awarded
the highest literature award in Pakistan.
Qateel's
primary contribution to Urdu poetry has been to raise
the standards of ghazals in films. Though this work
was started by Tanvir Alvi and Sahir Ludhianvi,it
has been brought to its natural conclusion by Qateel
Shifai. His work brought a certain standard to ghazals
in films and gave it a certain respectability. His
work also brought Urdu poetry closer to the masses
by using simple words, quite often words taken from
Hindi.
Qateel
Shifai has also been known for his collaborations
with Jagjit and Chitra Singh on numerous ghazal albums.
FAHMIDA
RIAZ
FAHMIDA
RIAZ is a noted Pakistani feminist and a published
poet. She is also the author of a highly acclaimed
novella Godaavari. Her most recent work is a
volume of short stories, Khat-e Marmuz.
|
 |
Attiya
Dawood
| Attiya
Dawood is a voice from the goths and villages
of rural Sindh. It is a voice of pain and harrowing
anguish. |
 |
As a rural Sindhi woman she finds deprivation everywhere:
she faces oppression piled on oppression. As a woman,
oppression of women by men, as a Third World woman,
oppression and exploitation by the advanced capitalist
countries. As a rural woman she is marginalised in
favour of the voice of the first person singular
Kamila
Shamsie
Born
in Karachi in 1973, her first novel, In the
City by the Sea was described as 'riveting'
in several reviews, and won the John Llewellyn
Rhys Prize. Shamsie was born into a literary
family; her great-aunt was Attia Hosain, her
mother, Muneeza Shamsie, is a writer and editor,
and her grandmother Jahanara Habibullah's memoirs
will be published by Oxford University Press
soon. |
 |
Kamila Shamsie studied at Hamilton College in Clinton,
New York, where the seeds of her first novel were
sown in a short story she wrote for a class. She went
on to a graduate program in creative writing at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her thesis advisor,
Shona Ramaya, suggested that she show her story to
an agent, who in a twist of fate turned out to be
the agent who had published Attiya Hussain at Virago.
This first novel won the Prime Minister's Award for
literature in Pakistan in 1999.
Shamsie currently teaches creative writing at Hamilton
College in New York.
