Attia Hosain
Encyclopedia
Attia Hosain is a writer, feminist and broadcaster. She was born in 1913 in Lucknow
in a taluqdar
background. She moved to Britain in 1947.
and went to the local La Martiniere Girls' College
. She was the daughter of Sheikh Shahid Husain Kidwai and Nisar Fatima, the daughter of Syed Maqbool Hussain Alvi of Kakori
.
She studied at Isabella Thoburn College from the age of fifteen and Lucknow University.
She moved to Britain in 1947 and became a broadcaster for the BBC
, hosting a popular women's radio programme.
Attia's great-niece is the Pakistan
i author Kamila Shamsie
.
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
in a taluqdar
Taluqdar
A taluqdar or talukdar , is a term used for Indian land holders in Mughal and British times, responsible for collecting taxes from a district...
background. She moved to Britain in 1947.
Biography
Attia was born in LucknowLucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
and went to the local La Martiniere Girls' College
La Martiniere Lucknow
La Martinière College is an educational institution located in Lucknow, the capital of the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. The college consists of two schools on different campuses for boys and girls. La Martinière Boys' College was founded in 1845 and La Martinière Girls' College was established...
. She was the daughter of Sheikh Shahid Husain Kidwai and Nisar Fatima, the daughter of Syed Maqbool Hussain Alvi of Kakori
Kakori
Kakori is a town and a nagar panchayat in Lucknow district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is situated 14 km north of Lucknow. More widely known for its kebabs, Zardozi work and Dasheri mangoes, Kakori is also the centre of once flourishing Urdu poetry, literature and the Qadiriya...
.
She studied at Isabella Thoburn College from the age of fifteen and Lucknow University.
She moved to Britain in 1947 and became a broadcaster for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, hosting a popular women's radio programme.
Attia's great-niece is the Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i author Kamila Shamsie
Kamila Shamsie
Kamila Shamsie is a Pakistani novelist who writes in the English language. She was brought up in Karachi and attended Karachi Grammar School....
.
Awards
- Gold medal when she became the first women from a TaluqdarTaluqdarA taluqdar or talukdar , is a term used for Indian land holders in Mughal and British times, responsible for collecting taxes from a district...
family to graduate from the University of Lucknow in 1933. (She married Ali Bahadur Haibullah in the same year on February 27). - The Attia Hosain Trust at Newnham College, Cambridge was set up to fund public lectures on multiculturalism and is presently (2007) funding the fees of South Asian women students at the College.
List of works (incomplete)
- Phoenix Fled, Chatto & Windus, 1953
- Sunlight on a Broken Column, Chatto & Windus, 1961
- Cooking the Indian Way, 1967