Shakeeb Jalali

Shakeeb Jalali (Urdu: شکیب جلالی‎) (October 1, 1934 – November 12, 1966) was a Pakistani Urdu poet.

Shakeb Jalali's real name was Syed Hassan Rizvi. His ancestors were from a small town, Saddat Jalali, near Aligarh, India. Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi says that Jalali was born on October 1, 1934, but his wife Syeda Mohiddisa Khatoon gives his year of birth as 1935 or 1936.

Jalali was an only child. When he was ten years old, his mother died in an accident.

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Habib Jalib

Habib Jalib (Urdu: حبیب جالب) was a Pakistani revolutionary poet, left-wing activist and politician who opposed martial law, authoritarianism and state oppression.

Early life

Habib Jalib was born as Habib Ahmad on 24 March 1928 in a village near Hoshiarpur, British India. He migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India and worked as a proofreader for Daily Imroze of Karachi. He was a progressive writer and soon started to grab the audience with his enthusiastic recitation of poetry. He wrote in plain language, adopted a simple style and addressed common people and issues. But the conviction behind his words, the music of his voice and his emotional energy coupled with the sensitivity of the socio-political context is what stirred the audience.

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Faiz Ahmad Faiz

Faiz Ahmad Faiz (Punjabi, Urdu: فیض احمد فیض ‎, born 13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984) MBE, NI,Lenin Peace Prize was an influential left - Wing intellectual, revolutionary poet, and one of the most famous poets of Urdu. He also wrote poems in Punjabi language as well. A notable member of the Progressive Writers' Movement (PWM), Faiz was an avowed Marxist. Listed four times for the Nobel Prize in poetry, he received the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union in 1962. Despite being repeatedly accused of atheism by the political and military establishment, Faiz's poetry suggested a more nuanced relationship with religion in general and with Islam in particular. He was, in fact, greatly inspired by both secular poetry and South Asia's Sufi traditions. His popular ghazal Hum Dekhenge is an example of how he fused these interests.

Faiz was controversially named and linked by Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan's government for hatching the conspiracy against Liaquat Ali Khan's government, along with a left-wing military sponsor Major General Akbar Khan. Having been arrested by Military police, Faiz among others received a maximum sentence by JAG branch, although his sentence was commuted after the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951.

He remained extremely influential in Pakistan and his work continues to influence the country's literature and arts. Faiz was publicly honored by the Pakistan Government after his literary work was publicly endorsed and posthumously honored him with nation's highest civil award, Nishan-e-Imtiaz, in 1990.

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Ibn-e-Insha

Ibn-e-Insha (Punjabi, Urdu: ابن انشاء‎ born Sher Muhammad Khan شیر محمد خان) on 15 June 1927 died 11 January 1978, was a Pakistani Leftist Urdu poet, humorist, travelogue writer and columnist. Along with his poetry, he was regarded one of the best humorists of Urdu. His poetry has a distinctive diction laced with language reminiscent of Amir Khusro in its use of words and construction that is usually heard in the more earthy dialects of the Hindi-Urdu complex of languages, and his forms and poetic style is an influence on generations of young poets.

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Saghar Siddiqui

 Saghar Siddiqui (1928-1974)(Urdu:ساغر صدیقی) was an Urdu poet from Pakistan. In spite of his ruined and homeless alone life, he remained famous and successful till his death among the masses. Saghar is also known as a saint and when he died, he left nothing but a pet, his dog, who also died on the same foot path where Saghar died a few days earlier.

Biography

Siddiqui was born in 1928 in Ambala (British India) as Muhammad Akhtar. History has no record of Saghar's personal life and very less is known as he never spoke to any one in this regard. Siddiqui started poetry at very young age. At age 16, he would regularly attend mushairas.At aged 19, he migrated to Pakistan in 1947 and settled in Lahore. At the time of partition, he was only 19 years old. In those days with his slim appearance, wearing pants and boski (yellow silky cloth) shirts, with curly hair, and reciting beautiful ghazals in a melodious voice, he became a huge success. He had some tragic turns in his life. He continued to write poetry for the film industry and moved on to publish a literary magazine. The magazine was a critical success but a commercial flop. Disappointed, Saghar shut down the magazine. In his later life, he fell into depression, financially ruined and addicted to drugs.

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Syed Nasir Raza Kazmi

 Syed Nasir Raza Kazmi, (1925–1972) (Urdu: سید ناصر رضا كاظمی‎) was an Urdu poet from Pakistan and one of the renowned poets of this era, especially in the use of "ista'aaray" and "chhotee beher." Kazmi was born on 8 December 1925 at Ambala, Haryana (Britidh India). Nasir Kazmi used the simple words in his poetry like "Chand", "Raat", "Baarish", "Mosam", "Yaad", "Tanhai", "Darya" and gave them life by his style of poetry.

Education and career

Kazmi was educated at Ambala, Simla and afterwards at Islamia College, Lahore. He returned to Ambala in 1945 and started looking after his ancestral land. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, he came to Lahore.

He did some journalistic work with Auraq-e-Nau as an editor and became editor-in-chief of the magazine Humayun in 1952. Later he was associated with Radio Pakistan, Lahore and other literary publications and organisations.

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Parveen Shakir

Parveen Shakir (Urdu: پروین شاکر‎) (November 24, 1952 – December 26, 1994) was an Urdu poet, teacher and a civil servant of the Government of Pakistan. Parveen started writing at an early age and published her first volume of poetry, Khushbu[Fragrance], to great acclaim, in 1976. She subsequently published other volumes of poetry - all well-received - Sad-barg [Marsh Marigold] in 1980, Khud Kalami [Soliloquy] andInkar [Denial] in 1990, Kaf e Aina [The Mirror's Edge] besides a collection of her newspaper columns, titled Gosha-e-Chashm [The Sight Corner], and was awarded one of Pakistan's highest honours, the Pride of Performance for her outstanding contribution to literature. The poetry books are collected in the volume Mah e Tamam [Full Moon] with the exception of Kaf e Aina.

Parveen died in 1994 in a car accident while on her way to work.

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Ahmad Faraz

Ahmad Faraz (Urdu: احمد فراز‎, born Syed Ahmad Shah) on 12 January 1931 in Kohat, died 25 August 2008) was a Pakistani Urdu poet. He was acclaimed one of the modern Urdu poets of the last century. 'Faraz' is his pen name, (in Urdu takhalus). He died in Islamabad on 25 August 2008. He was awarded Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz and after his death Hilal-e-Pakistan by the government.

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Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi

Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi (Urdu: احمد ندیم قاسمی‎) born Ahmad Shah Awan on 20 November 1916 – died 10 July 2006, was an Urdu and English language Pakistani poet, journalist, literary critic, dramatist and short story author. He wrote 50 books on topics such as poetry, fiction, criticism, journalism and art, and was a major figure in contemporary Urdu literature. His poetry was distinguished by its humanism, and his Urdu afsana (novel) work is considered by some second only to Prem Chand in its depiction of rural culture. He was also editor and publisher of the literary magazine Funoon for almost half a century. He received awards such as the Pride of Performance in 1968 and Sitara-e-Imtiaz in 1980 for his literary work.

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