Intizar Husain
The Pakistani writer INTIZAR HUSAIN (1923-2016) wrote short stories, novels, novellas, poetry, and one travelogue. The Lahore publisher of Husain lists 43 works. Born in the town of Dibai in British colonial India, Husain graduated with a degree in Urdu literature from Meerut College in 1946. He left India for Pakistan upon Partition. Shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2013, he has won multiple awards for his writing, including Pakistan’s Star of Excellence (Sitara-i-imtiaz) and a lifetime achievement award from the Lahore Literary Festival. In 2014, he was awarded the status of Officer as a member of the French government’s Order of Arts and Letters. Fleur Pellerin, the French Minister of Culture at the time, spoke of him as being a “Universal spirit concerned with ameliorating the dialogue of cultures in every possible way.” The same year Newsweek Pakistan recognized him as the most important living writer in Pakistan.
from The Chronicle
By Intizar Husain, translated from the Urdu by Matt ReeckListen, my friends, we are punished by the heavens, exiled by time. It is true, we were cast from heaven to earth the day that the stars plucked us from Jahanabad and threw us down in the wilds of Baran where the lights burned from a distance of twelve miles.
