The 18th annual Aalmi Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Awards will be presented to Pakistan’s Dr Saleem Akhtar and India’s Dr Sharif Hussain Qasemi by Majlis Frogh-e-Urdu Adab, a Qatar- based literary forum in Giwana Hall, Radisson Blu, on November 13.
The Minister of Culture, Arts & Heritage, H E Dr Hamad Abdul Aziz Al Kuwari will be the chief guest.
“We are proud and very pleased that the Ministry of Culture, Arts & Heritage is continuing to extend its support and co-operation to our annual function, which it has been doing for the last many years,” Majlis Chairman Mohammad Atiq said.
Launched in 1996, the Aalmi Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Award [International Award for promotion of Urdu literature ] which comprises a gold shield & cash award of Rs150,000, given annually to two Urdu creative writers - one from India and the other from Pakistan, for their contribution to the promotion of Urdu language and literature.
The 2014 awards were decided by two independent juries headed by Dr Gopi Chand Narang, former Chairman of India’s Sahitya Academy, and Intezar Hussain, reputed Urdu scholar and fiction writer from Pakistan. India’s well-known Urdu scholar Prof Shafey Kidwai and noted poet Prof Waseem Barelvi will be the guests of honour.
Immediately after the awards presentation ceremony, an international Mushaira will be held which will feature top poets from Pakistan, India, UK, Germany, Kuwait and UAE. The Mushaira will be presided over by poet from Pakistan, Prof Anwar Masood. Majlis will also release a special souvenir on the occasion.
Guest poets from India for this year’s Mushaira are Prof Waseem Barelvi, Dr Nawaz Deobandi, Dr Kalim Qaiser, Chander Bhan and Rajesh Reddy.
Guest poets from Pakistan are Prof Anwar Masood, Rasa Chughtai, Abbas Tabish, Saud Usmani and Ambareen Hasib.
UK-based poet Basir Kazmi, Shafiq Murad from Germany, Khalid Sajjad from Kuwait, Zahoorul Islam Javed and Dr Zubair Farooq from UAE and Doha-based poets Fartash Syed and Qaiser Masood [ from Pakistan ] and Nadim Maher [ from India ] will also participate.
The Peninsula
