Hamidi Kashmiri

• Name — Hamidi Kashmiri • Born — 1932 • Birthplace — Srinagar, Kashmir and Jammu, British India • Died — 27 December 2018 • Place of death — Jammu and Kashmir, India • Occupation — Writer, educationist, professor • Spouse — Maryam Hamidi • Children — 3 • Awards — Padma Shri Ghalib Award Sahitya Akademi Award

Kashmiri was born in 1932 in Bohri Kadal, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, British India. He obtained his higher education in Urdu literature, eventually completing a PhD on the influence of European thought on modern Urdu poetry.

Hamidi began his career with the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, later joining the University of Kashmir in 1969 as a faculty member in the Department of Urdu. He rose through various academic positions before being appointed as the vice-chancellor of the University of Kashmir in 1990, a post he held until 1993. He was also associated with literary institutions and journals, serving as editor of Sheeraza, a publication of the Jammu and Kashmir Cultural Academy. After retirement, he founded and edited the literary magazine Jahaad, which published works by both local and national writers.

Kashmiri began his literary journey writing short stories, with his early fiction appearing in Urdu journals such as Beeswein Sadi. He later shifted focus to poetry and literary criticism, becoming one of the prominent modernist writers in Urdu literature.