Noted Indian fiction writer Zakia Mashhadi and eminent Pakistani novelist, playwright and short story writer Mirza Ather Baig have been declared winners of the 27th Aalmi Frogh e Urdu Adab Award (International award for promotion of Urdu literature) for 2023.
The annual award is instituted in 1996 by Majlis e Frogh e Urdu Adab (MFUA), renowned Qatar-based Urdu literary organisation. The award carries a cash prize of Rs150,000 and a trophy for each winner. It is given every year to a fiction writer/or scholar/or researcher /or critic, each from Pakistan and India, for their significant contribution towards the promotion of Urdu language and literature.
The awards will be presented at a function, in October or November, this year, subject to the approval of the Ministry of Culture, Qatar. Majlis chairman Mohamed Atiq said the award winners were unanimously chosen by two independent juries - from Pakistan and India – comprising reputable Urdu scholars.
The Pakistan Jury was headed by renowned scholar, critic, researcher and poet- Prof Dr Khurshid ul Hassan Rizvi, with members Prof Fateh Mohamed Malik, Prof Dr Tehsin Firaqi and Prof Dr Zahid Munir Amir.
The Indian Jury comprised of the new chairman Dr Shafey Kidwai - who took over following death of Prof Dr Gopi Chand Narang on June 15 last year - with members Syed Mohamed Ashraf, Prof Dr Ateequllah, Prof Qazi Obaid ur Rehman Hashmi and Sheen Kaaf Nizam.
Zakia Mashhadi has to her credit nine collections of short stories and a novel and eight books translated from Urdu to English, Hindi to Urdu and from English to Urdu.
Her translation of Jeelani Bano's famous novel ‘Aiwan e Ghazal’ into English has been published by the National Book Trust (NBT) and has been highly appreciated at the global level. She has also translated her own 12 selected short stories, also published by the NBT.
Zakia Mashhadi has been honoured with numerous awards, which include Iqbal Samman, Ghalib Award for fiction (2016), Sahitya Academy Tarjuma Award (2018), awards from Bihar University for the first three collections of short stories and many awards from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh Urdu academies.
Mirza Athar Baig, a native of Sharaqpur, Punjab, Pakistan, is regarded by critics as one of the most important contemporary writers in the Urdu language. A veteran professor of post-modern and post-colonial philosophy at Government College University, Lahore, Baig announced his entry into fiction with avant-garde works that completely re-shaped contemporary Urdu fiction. He is also currently associated with the Department of Philosophy at the Government College University in Lahore.
Baig’s fiction works include three novels, a short story collection and numerous plays for television. His first novel, Ghulam Bagh is considered one of the central works of literature in the Urdu language. Five editions have been published since its initial publication in 2006. Baig has been honoured with ‘Pride of Performance’ award by the Government of Pakistan, the Majlis statement added.
