Graphic Stories: Faiz Ahmed Faiz

DescriptionFaiz Ahmed Faiz is another title of Graphic Stories and it tells us the story of Faiz’s life, his work, and his achievements. He was an intellectual and a revolutionary poet, a member of the Progressive Writers’ Movement, and one of the most famous poets in Pakistan whose work has been translated into Russian and English. He was very popular among the masses and a strong influence on Pakistan’s art and literature, especially poetry.In 1962, Faiz was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by the Soviet Union, and nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1984. In 1990, the Government of Pakistan honoured him posthumously with the nation’s highest civil award, Nishan-e-Imtiaz.Authors BiographyRumana Husain is a writer, illustrator, and a freelance contributor to national dailies and magazines. She has been an innovative school head and teacher-trainer. She is an Honorary Director on the Board of the Children’s Literature Festival (CLF), Honorary General Secretary of the Karachi Conference Foundation, and Founding Member of the ‘I am Karachi’ Society. She has written and illustrated over 60 children’s books and developed many teachers’ manuals. She won the 4th UBL-Jang Literary Excellence Award for Dr. Akhter Hameed Khan which is a part of this graphic stories series.Amina Azfar is a freelance editor, translator, and renowned author of children’s books in English and Urdu. She received the Mohammad Hasan Askari Award for the best translation work from the Pakistan Academy of Letters.Fahmida Riaz is an eminent poet and writer who have been recognized for her contribution to Pakistani literature. She is the author of the Literary Heritage Series, which introduces celebrated poets to young readers through a selection and translation of their famous verses. She was awarded the 6th UBL Literary Excellence Award in Children’s Literature for the Literary Heritage series’ title Our Bhitai and has won numerous national and international prizes.Born in 1946 in Meerut, India, educated in Hyderabad and London, and living in Karachi, she has written poetry and short stories since the age of 15 and has been involved in social and political activities since her student days. She has seen publication of four volumes of her poetry, three novels, including Godavari, the English translation of which is also published by OUP Pakistan, and a collection of short stories, in addition to the Urdu translation of some verses from Shaikh Ayaz. She has also translated Rumi into Urdu.Her first collection of verse, Patthar Ki Zaban was published in 1967. With the publication of her second collection, Badan Dareeda, she emerged as a full-fledged iconoclast. She has since published four more collections of her verse—Dhoop, Kya Tum Pura Chand Na Dekhogay, Hamrakab and Aadmi Ki Zindigi.Fahmida Riaz is also the author of several short stories and novels in Urdu: Godavari, based on her Indian experience, and Zinda Bahar Lane based on Bangladesh. Fahmida Riaz’s first collection Badan Dareeda appeared when she was 22, and was responsible for creating a stir in literary circles. Fahmida Riaz is among the front rank of authors and poets in Urdu.Besides being a poet, she is also an unrelenting social critic and has been active in several human rights movements. She was among the writers who campaigned against Gen. Ziaul Haq’s military rule and the execution of Z. A. Bhutto, and had to suffer the wrath of the authorities and a period of self-exile. Fahmida Riaz has spent years abroad: in London, working for the BBC; then in India as a political exile. She is also the author of several short stories and travelogues in Urdu, including Zinda Bahar Lane about Bangladesh. She has travelled widely and lectured at universities and cultural forums in England and the USA. Fahmida Riaz was given the Hemmet-Hellman award by Human Rights Watch, New York, in 1997 and the Kamal-i-Fun award in Pakistan in 2016.