Parveen Shakir

Parveen Shakir (* November 24, 1952 in Karachi, † 26 December 1994 ) was a Pakistani poet, educator and government employees.

Biography

Shakir studied English literature and linguistics. She worked for nine years as a teacher before she was an official of the Pakistani customs authorities. In 1990 she taught at Trinity College in Connecticut, USA. In 1991, she earned a master's degree in public administration at Harvard University.

She was married to the doctor Naseer Ali, from whom she was divorced later. In 1994, she died at the age of 42 in a traffic accident. She left behind a son, Syed Murad Ali.

Poetry

Her poetry has brought a fresh breath in the Urdu poetry. She wrote in the feminine first person, which itself is rarely used by women in the written in Urdu poetry. She did address the feminine perspective of love and related social aspects. From the review it was compared with the Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad.

Her first book, Khushboo was the Adamji Award, Pakistan's highest literary prize awarded. Later she was awarded the Pride of Performance Award.

List published by Parveen Shakir books in chronological order, each followed by a translation in italics.

• Khushboo (1976 ) - Fragrance
• Sad - barg ( 1980) - Evergreen
• Khud - kalaami (1990 ) - monologue
• Inkaar (1990 ) - Denial
• Maah -e- Tamaam (1994 ) - Full Moon