Urdu literature comprises the literary works, written in the Urdu language. While, It tends to be dominated by poetry, especially the verse forms of the ghazal and nazm, it has expanded into other styles of writing, including that of the short story, or afsana. Urdu literature is popular mostly in Pakistan, where Urdu is the national language, and in India, where it is an Eighth Schedule language.
Qurratulain Hyder was an Indian Urdu novelist and short story writer, an academic, and a journalist. One of the most outstanding and influential literary names in Urdu literature, she is best known for her magnum opus, Aag Ka Darya, a novel first published in Urdu in 1959, from Lahore, Pakistan, that stretches from the fourth century BC to post partition of India.
The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the 8th Schedule to the Indian constitution as well as in English and Rajasthani language.
Abdur Rehman Rahi was an Kashmiri poet, translator and critic. He was awarded the Indian Sahitya Akademi Award in 1961 for his poetry collection Nawroz-i-Saba, the Padma Shri in 2000, and India's highest literary award, the Jnanpith Award in 2007. He is the first Kashmiri writer to be awarded the Jnanpith, India's highest literary award for his poetic collection Siyah Rood Jaeren Manz. He was honoured with Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2000 by Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.
Gopi Chand Narang was an Indian theorist, literary critic, and scholar who wrote in Urdu and English. His Urdu literary criticism incorporated a range of modern theoretical frameworks including stylistics, structuralism, post-structuralism, and Eastern poetics.
Bhalchandra Vanaji Nemade is an Indian Marathi language writer, poet, critic and linguistic scholar. Beginning with his debut novel Kosala, Nemade brought new dimensions to the world of Marathi literature. This was followed by a tetralogy consisting of novels Bidhar, Hool, Jareela and Jhool. In 2013, Nemade published his magnum opus titled Hindu: Jagnyachi Samruddha Adgal which is regarded as his masterpiece. Nemade is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award as well as the Jnanapith Award, the highest literary honour in India. In 2013, he was awarded the Padma Shri.
Akhtar ul Iman was a noted Urdu poet and screenwriter in Hindi cinema, who had a major influence on modern Urdu nazm.
Gulzar is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this era. He started his career with music director S.D. Burman as a lyricist in the 1963 film Bandini and worked with many music directors including R. D. Burman, Salil Chowdhury, Vishal Bhardwaj and A. R. Rahman. Gulzar also writes poetry, dialogues and scripts. He directed films such as Aandhi and Mausam during the 1970s and the TV series Mirza Ghalib in the 1980s. He also directed Kirdaar in 1993.
Upendranath Sharma "Ashk", was an Indian novelist, short story writer and playwright. He was born in Jalandhar, Punjab. In 1933 he wrote his second short story collection in Urdu called Aurat Ki Fitrat, the foreword of which was written by Munshi Premchand. Ashk began his literary career writing in Urdu but he switched to Hindi on the advice of Munshi Premchand. He joined All India Radio in 1941 where Krishan Chander, Patras Bokhari and Saadat Hasan Manto were among his colleagues. He settled in Allahabad in the late 1940s. He was the first Hindi dramatist to receive the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for playwriting in 1965.
Rahman Abbas is an Indian fiction writer and the recipient of the India's highest literary Award Sahitya Akademi Award for his fourth novel Rohzin in 2018. He is also the recipient of the two State Academy Awards for his third and fourth novels respectively i.e. Hide and Seek in the Shadow of God (2011) and the Rohzin in 2017. He is the only Indian novelist whose work in German has received a LitProm Grant funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Swiss-South Cultural Fund. He writes in Urdu and in English. His novels deal with themes of forbidden politics and love.
Nasir Abbas Nayyar is a Pakistani Urdu language writer, critic, columnist, and essayist. He has written books on poetry, literary theory and post colonial study of Urdu literature. He has produced some important books on structuralism and postmodernism and their influence on Urdu literature. A book on life and poetics of Majid Amjid is another his significant contribution. His most famous work is on Postcolonial Study of Urdu Literature published by Oxford University Press, Karachi, Pakistan titled Mabad Nau Abadiat and Urdu Adab ki Tashkeel e Jadid. His books on post colonialism proved ground breaking works in Urdu.
The Gujarat Sahitya Akademi or Gujarat Sahitya Academy, established in 1981, is a government institution dedicated to the development of the languages spoken in Gujarat, India and their literature. Gujarati, an official language of Gujarat, is one of them; the others are Hindi, Sanskrit, Kutchi, Sindhi and Urdu. As of 2022, Bhagyesh Jha is the chairman of the Akademi.
Rohzin is the fourth novel of Rahman Abbas. On this novel he won India's highest literary Award Sahitya Akademi Award in 2018. Published in 2016 by Arshia Publications, Delhi, and launched at the Jashn-e-Rekhta, Delhi on 14 February 2016. Since, then, Rohzin has been widely debated in India, Pakistan, The Middle East, Canada, Switzerland and Germany. The author coins the word- 'Rohzin' to signify the psychological trauma of children who witness the betrayal of their parents/sleeping with someone else. Critics in the Global South think of Rohzin as a literary landmark in Urdu literature.
Khalid Jawed is an Indian novelist. Some of his works include Aakhri Dawat, Nematkhana and Maut ki Kitab, critically acclaimed for his unique style and narrative. Currently he is serving as Professor at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Jawed is also considered an expert on popular literature. He is equally popular in India and Pakistan.
Ek Mamnua Muhabbat ki Kahani is the second novel by Rahman Abbas. It was first published in 2009 and was awarded Best Novel of The Year in 2011 by the Universal Society for Peace and Research (Aurangabad). The book was an immediate success in the Urdu speaking world.
Abul Kalam Qasmi was an Indian scholar, literary critic, and a poet of the Urdu language who served as the dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Aligarh Muslim University. He was the editor of Tehzeeb-ul-Akhlaq and authored books such as The Criticism of Poetry. He translated E. M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel into Urdu as Novel ka Fun. He was conferred with the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2009, and the Ghalib Award in 2013.
Karamat Ali Karamat (1936–2022) was an Indian Urdu poet, author, literary critic, and mathematician. Karamat is known for collecting and introducing Odisha's Urdu literature to the Urdu-speaking world. His works include Aab e Khizar (1963), Shu'aon Ki Salīb (1972), Izāfi Tanqīd (1977), Lafzon Kā Aasmān (1984), and Lafzon Kā Ākāsh (2000). Karamat received the 2004 Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize for his Urdu translation, Lafzon Kā Ākāsh.
Hafeez Merathi, whose real name was Hafeez-ur-Rahman was an Indian Urdu poet, author and critic. He is known for his poem 'Aabaad Rahenge Virane Shadab Rahengi Zanjiren.'
