Ishrat Afreen (alternative spelling: Ishrat Aafreen; born 25 December 1956) is an Urdu poet. Her works have been translated in many languages including English, Japanese, Sanskrit and Hindi. The ghazal singers Jagjit Singh & Chitra Singh also performed her poetry in their anthology, ''Beyond Time'' (1987). Zia Mohyeddin also recites her nazms in his 17th and 20th volumes as well as his ongoing concerts.

Early life and career

She was first published at the age of 14 in the ''

Daily Jang The ''Daily Jang'' ( ur, ) is an Urdu newspaper headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the oldest newspaper of Pakistan in continuous publication since its foundation in 1939, first published during World War II, hence the name (Jang) translat ...

'' on 31 April 1971. She continued writing and was published in a multitude of literary magazines across India and Pakistan. She eventually became assistant editor for the monthly magazine ''Awaaz'', edited by the poet

Fahmida Riaz Fahmida Riaz ( ur, ) (28 July 1946 – 21 November 2018) was a Urdu writer, poet and activist of Pakistan. She authored many books, of which some are ''Godaavari'', ''Khatt-e Marmuz'', and ''Khana e Aab O Gil'' the first translation in rhyme o ...

. Parallel to her writing career she participated in several radio shows on Radio Pakistan from 1970–1984 that aired nationally and globally. She later worked under Mirza Jamil on the now universal Noori Nastaliq Urdu script for

InPage InPage is a word processor and page layout software by Concept Software Pvt. Ltd., an Indian information technology company. It is used for languages such as Urdu, Balochi, Persian, Pashto and Arabic under Windows and Apple Mac. It was first deve ...

. Ishrat Afreen is currently the Principal Urdu Lecturer for The University of Texas at Austin's Hindu Urdu Flagship Program.

Education

Afreen pursued her undergraduate education at the Allama Iqbal Govt College Karachi and later received her master's degree in Urdu Literature from the University of Karachi, Pakistan. She also taught at the Aga Khan School and boardinghouse.

Publications

Afreen has published two collections of poetry entitled ''Kunj Peeleh Poolon Ka'' (1985) and ''Dhoop Apne Hisse Ki'' (2005). Amongst others, she has been included in the prestigious anthology ''We Sinful Women'' and inspired the well-known anthology ''Beyond Belief: Contemporary Feminist Urdu Poetry''.ASR Publications, 1990. Lahore, Pakistan.

References

External links

Official siteUrdu Study at University of WisconsinBBC: 2005's Most Important Urdu Publications

Article on Launching of "Dhoop Apne Hissay Ki"Image of Newspaper Spread in Urdu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Afreen, Ishrat 1956 births Living people Urdu-language poets from Pakistan Muhajir people Pakistani feminist writers Pakistani women's rights activists Writers from Houston University of Karachi alumni Writers from Karachi Pakistani emigrants to the United States Pakistani women writers