'Majlis e Frogh e Urdu Adab, a renowned literary organisation based and founded in Qatar in 1991, has named Prof Dr Shafey Kidwai as the new chairman of Majlis e Frogh e Urdu Adab Aalmi Award Jury Committee from India. He replaces the late Prof Dr Gopi Chand Narang, who was the chairman since 1996, the year in which the Majlis initiated the Aalmi Frogh e Urdu Adab Award for two top Urdu scholars - one from India and the other from Pakistan.
Prof Kidwai is a noted scholar, well-known Indian academic, bilingual critic, translator and author and been the most senior member of the previous Award Jury committee from India, after Prof Dr Chand, for the last 15 years, Majlis chairman Mohammad Atiq said.
Prof Kidwai has been teaching communication studies, film studies, broadcast journalism, sports journalism and Urdu journalism for more than 35 years. He is the chairman of the department of mass communication at Aligarh Muslim University.
He has been writing his fortnightly column on Urdu literature, culture and media, which appears in the Friday Review, of The Hindu English newspaper for more than 10 years. The writer of a column on books, 'Waraq Dar Waraq'' in The Wire Urdu, his articles regularly appear in leading newspapers such as The Hindustan Times and The Indian Express and magazines such as The Outlook, The Book Review, The Indian Literature, The Frontline and a number of noted Urdu journals and periodicals of the sub-continent.
Prof Kidwai has authored five books in English and eight in Urdu and published more than 100 articles in reputable journals in India. He is a member, convenor and expert in various general councils, Urdu award committees, public service commissions and national councils in India.
Besides the Sahitya Academy award (2019), Prof Kidwai is the recipient of several prestigious awards including Kalinga Literary Award (2021), Iqbal Samman (highest literary award of Madhya Pradesh Government, 2018) and Amir Khusro award (highest literary award of Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy, 2017).
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