Kishwar Naheed
Encyclopedia
Kishwar Naheed Sitara-e-Imtiaz is an Urdu poet from Pakistan
known for her pioneering feminist poetry.
family of Bulandshahr, India
, Kishwar was a witness to the violence (including rape and abduction of women) associated with partition, and herself moved with her family to Pakistan
in 1949.
Kishwar had to fight to receive an education at a time when women did not go to school; 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, Lahore.
Kishwar was married to Poet Yousuf Kamran, raised two sons with him as a working woman, and then continued to support her family after his death in the Eighties.
before her retirement. She also edited a prestigious literary magazine Mahe naw and founded an organisation Hawwa (Eve
) whose goal is to help women without an independent income become financially independent through cottage industries and selling handicrafts.
Kishwar has published six collections of poems between 1969 and 1990. She also writes for children and for the daily Jang, a national newspaper.
Her poetry has been translated into English and Spanish and her famous poem We Sinful Women gave its title to a ground breaking anthology of contemporary Urdu feminist poetry translated and edited by Rukhsana Ahmad published in London by The Women's Press in 1991.
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...
known for her pioneering feminist poetry.
Life and Family
Born in 1940 in a SyedSayyid
Sayyid is an honorific title, it denotes males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali, sons of the prophet's daughter Fatima Zahra and his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib.Daughters of sayyids are given the titles Sayyida,...
family of Bulandshahr, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Kishwar was a witness to the violence (including rape and abduction of women) associated with partition, and herself moved with her family to 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...
in 1949.
Kishwar had to fight to receive an education at a time when women did not go to school; 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, Lahore.
Kishwar was married to Poet Yousuf Kamran, raised two sons with him as a working woman, and then continued to support her family after his death in the Eighties.
Works
Kishwar Naheed held administrative roles in various national institutions. She was Director General of Pakistan National Council of the ArtsPakistan National Council of the Arts
Pakistan National Council of the Arts is based in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is situated in sector F-5/1 and regularly hosts events to promote the arts through various means:* Gallery of Arts* Drama Festivals* Musical Nights* Puppet Shows...
before her retirement. She also edited a prestigious literary magazine Mahe naw and founded an organisation Hawwa (Eve
Eve
Eve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-People:*Eve , a common given name and surname*Eve , American recording artist and actress-Places:...
) whose goal is to help women without an independent income become financially independent through cottage industries and selling handicrafts.
Kishwar has published six collections of poems between 1969 and 1990. She also writes for children and for the daily Jang, a national newspaper.
Her poetry has been translated into English and Spanish and her famous poem We Sinful Women gave its title to a ground breaking anthology of contemporary Urdu feminist poetry translated and edited by Rukhsana Ahmad published in London by The Women's Press in 1991.
Awards
- Adamjee Prize of Literature on Lab-e-goya (1969)
- UNESCO Prize for Children's Literature on Dais Dais Ki Kahanian
- Best Translation award of Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
- Mandela Prize (1997)
- Sitara-e-Imtiaz (2000)
Further reading
- Jane Eldridge Miller, ed., Who's Who in Contemporary Women's Writing. 2001.