Iftikhar Arif

Arif is widely considered one of the leading contemporary Urdu poets, and has received the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, and Presidential Pride of Performance awards, the highest literary awards given by the Government of Pakistan.

• Name — Iftikhar Arif • Honorific Suffix — NI HI SI PP • Birth Name — Iftikhar Hussain Arif • Born — 21 March 1944 • Birthplace — Lucknow, United Provinces, British India • Occupation — Urdu poet • Notable Works — Mehr-i-Doneem, Harf-i-Baryab, Jahan-e-Maloom, Kitab-i-Dil-o-Dunya • Awards — Faiz International Award (1988) Waseeqa-e-Etraaf (1994) Baba-e-Urdu Award (1995) Naqoosh Award (1994) Pride of Performance (1990) Sitara-e-Imtiaz (1999) Hilal-e-Imtiaz (2005) Nishan-e-Imtiaz (2023) • Education — University of Lucknow, New York University

• Illustration — Iftikhar Arif (left) with fellow writers Mohammad Hameed Shahid (center) and Jawayd Anwar (right) in November 2011 Iftikhar Hussain Arif was born on 21 March 1944. He enrolled at the University of Lucknow, where he studied English, Urdu and Sanskrit and got his MA degree in 1965, then studied journalism at New York University. In the same year, Arif then migrated to Karachi, Pakistan, where he worked as a newscaster for Radio Pakistan. He later joined the Pakistan Television Corporation (Karachi Center) where he teamed up with Obaidullah Baig for the PTV program Kasauti. He spent the next thirteen years in England, until 1990, working for the BCCI and the Urdu Markaz in London.

Arif has published three poetry collections: Mehr-i-Doneem (1984), Harf-i-Baryab (1994) and Jahan-e-Maloom. Oxford University Press has published an anthology of his translated poetry, Written in the Season of Fear, with an introduction by Harris Khalique, a poet who writes in English, Urdu and Punjabi.