MAPPING MEMORIES: Urdu Stories From India And Pakistan

Anwar Qamar is a postmodernist writer based out of Mumbai. His stories focus on the plight of the subalterns.

Bano Qudsia, also known as Bano Aapa, was a Pakistani novelist, playwright, and spiritualist. She was awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz and the Hilal-i-Imtiaz by the Government of Pakistan, and the Kamal-e-Fun Award by the Pakistan Academy of Letters.

Anwar Sajjad, better known as Enver Sajjad, was a Pakistani writer and playwright. He is a recipient of the 1989 Pride of Performance by the Government of Pakistan.

Farkhanda Lodhi was born in  pre-Partition Punjab. Till recently, she was Chief Librarian at the Government Library, Lahore. Her published works include two novels, Hasrat-e-Arz-e-Tamanna and Pinjra, three collections of short stories, Sheher ke Log, Aarsi and Roman ki Maut, and a collection of essays, Inshaiye.

Gyas Ahmed Gaddi was born on 17 February 1928, in Dhanbad, in Jharia district, Bihar. It was a small library at Jharia, which received well-known literary Urdu magazines, that he developed an interest in reading. Under the influence of Krishen Chander's writing, he began his writing career. His published works include Baba Lok and Parinda Pakadnewali Gadi, two collections of short stories and, Sara Din Dhup, a novella. He has served as the editor of Meeras, a journal of short stories.

Born in 1925, he is one of the most prolific and talented of Pakistani writers. Best known to his Urdu readership as a master of short story, he has also experimented with novels, novellas, biographies and plays. He has won numerous literary awards in both India and Pakistan. He is a columnist for Dawn, Pakistan’s largest circulated English daily.

Jeelani Bano began writing short stories in 1955 and has published numerous works, including novels, story collections and novellas. She strongly associates herself with developmental and anti-communalism movements. Her stories have been translated into several Indian languages, besides Russian, German, Norwegian and English. She has been conferred with the International Award 1998 by Majlis-e-Frogh-e-Urdu and the Padma Shri in 2001 by the Government of India.

Joginder Paul has to his credit three novels, two novellas and many collections of short stories and “short” short stories – a genre enriched markedly by his contribution. Acknowledged as one of the leading Urdu writers of the subcontinent, his fiction has been translated into various Indian and foreign languages. He has been felicitated with a number of awards, the more recent being the Urdu Adab Award, the Modi Ghalib Award for Urdu Prose, the Shiromani Urdu Sahityakar Award, the All India Bahadur Shah Zafar Award, the Iqbal Samman, and an international award from Doha for his contribution to Urdu literature

Mohammad Mansha Yaad was a writer and playwright from Punjab, Pakistan. He is a recipient of the 2005 Pride of Performance Award from the Government of Pakistan.

Muhammad Ali Siddiqui was a distinguished scholar, educationist and critic of Urdu literature.

Qurratulain Hyder was born in Aligarh and educated in Lucknow, from where she got her Master's degree in English literature. She has published several collections of short stories and a number of novels. Many of her books have been translated into Indian and foreign languages. She has received a number of awards, including India's most prestigious literary award, the Jnanpith, in 1990. She has worked in England as a journalist and has travelled widely all over the world. She was also a Fellow of the Sahitya Akademi.

Dr Saleem Agha Qazilbash is an essayist, writer, poet, critic and translator from Pakistan.

Sukrita Paul Kumar is an Indian critic, poet and academician, who is a recipient of several awards, grants and fellowships.

Surendra Prakash is a Sahitya Akademi Award winner. His works include Doosre Aadmi Ka Drawing Room, Baraf Par Makalma and the award-winning anthology, Baz Goyi.

Syed Muhammad Ashraf was born into a Sufi family in Uttar Pradesh. He was educated at Aligarh Muslim University. He is the Founder and National President of the AIUMB.

Umrao Tariq was the pen-name of Syed Umrao Ali. His first collection of short stories, Badan ka Tawaf (1979) won the Adamji Literary Prize. His other published works include Khushki par Jaziray (1986), Dhanak ke Baqimanda rang (1993).

Zahida Hina is a renowned Urdu writer, novelist, essayist and dramatist from Pakistan. She is a recipient of the Faiz Award, the Literary Performance Award and the SAARC Literary Award.