Rukhsana Ahmad (born 1948) is a Pakistani writer of novels, short stories, poetry, plays, and a translator, who after marriage migrated to
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
for further studies and pursue a career in writing. She has campaigned for Asian writers, particularly women.
Biography
Rukhsana Ahmad was born in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
, Pakistan, in 1948. She did her schooling in many schools in different cities in Pakistan. She did her college education in Punjab University and in Karachi obtained Master of Arts degree from the
Karachi University
The University of Karachi ( sd, ; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh ...
Linguistics
Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...
. She then joined the University of Karachi and taught English Literature, until she married.
Subsequent to her marriage she migrated to England, where she obtained degrees from the
Reading University
The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
and the University of the Arts.
Stationed in London with her family, Ahmad began a freelance career as a playwright and journalist. She began translating works from
Urdu
Urdu (;"Urdu" '' Kishwar Naheed, Fahmida Riaz, and Sara Shagufta among others; and Altaf Fatima's novel ''The One Who Did Not Ask'' (1993). Ahmad's first novel was ''The Hope Chest'' (1996), which highlights the life of a young woman brought up in two "different worlds".
During 1991, as resident writer in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, Ahmad was editor of ''Dreams into Words'' and ''Daughters of the East''.
As a popular playwright she has written numerous plays, such as ''Song for a Sanctuary'', which launched her career in radio and stage shows and ''Mistaken...Annie Besant in India'' (2007). She has also adapted plays for
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...
, including ''
Wide Sargasso Sea
''Wide Sargasso Sea'' is a 1966 novel by Dominican-British author Jean Rhys. The novel serves as a postcolonial and feminist prequel to Charlotte Brontë's novel ''Jane Eyre'' (1847), describing the background to Mr. Rochester's marriage from ...
'' by
Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys, ( ; born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams; 24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979) was a British novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she mainly resided in England, where she was sent for he ...
, ''
Woman at Point Zero
''Woman at Point Zero'' ( ar, امرأة عند نقطة الصفر, ) is a novel by Nawal El Saadawi written in 1975 and published in Arabic in 1977. The novel is based on Saadawi's meeting with a female prisoner in Qanatir Prison and is the fi ...
'' by
Nawal El Saadawi
Nawal El Saadawi ( ar, نوال السعداوي, , 22 October 1931 – 21 March 2021) was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist and physician. She wrote many books on the subject of women in Islam, paying particular attention to the practice of ...
, ''
Midnight's Children
''Midnight's Children'' is a 1981 novel by Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie, published by Jonathan Cape with cover design by Bill Botten, about India's transition from British colonial rule to independence and partition. It is a postc ...
'' by
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...
and ''
Maps for Lost Lovers
''Maps for Lost Lovers'' is a novel by the British Pakistani writer Nadeem Aslam. It was first published by Faber and Faber in 2004.
Ostensibly about the murder of a pair of lovers, the book is in fact a minute dissection of working-class Pakis ...
'' by
Nadeem Aslam
Nadeem Aslam FRSL (born 11 July 1966 in Gujranwala, Pakistan) is a British Pakistani novelist. His debut novel, ''Season of the Rainbirds'', won the Betty Trask and the Author's Club First Novel Award. His critically acclaimed second novel '' Ma ...
. In June and October 1991, Ahmad's play ''Song for a Sanctuary was played in many theaters in Britain.
Ahmad became a member of the Asian Women Writers Collective in London in 1984. Along with
Rita Wolf
Rita Wolf (born Rita Ghose, ) is an American British actress born in Kolkata, India.
US theatre credits include premieres of work by Tony Kushner ("Homebody/Kabul" at NY Theatre Workshop, also at BAM) and Richard Nelson ("The Michaels" at The Pu ...
, in 1990 she co-established the Kali Theatre Company in London, which she headed for eight years. She has founded the South Asian Arts and Literature in the Diaspora Archive in the United Kingdom known as ''Salidaa'' (now ''Sadaa''). She is also an advisory fellow of the Royal Literary Fund at Queen Mary's College,
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
.
Awards
Ahmad has won many accolades in the form of nominations for well-known awards such as the
Commission for Racial Equality
The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom which aimed to address racial discrimination and promote racial equality. The commission was established in 1976, and disbanded in 2007 when its ...
Award, the
Writers' Guild of Great Britain
The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG).
History
The un ...
Award, the
Sony Award
The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...
, and the 2002
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is the largest and oldest playwriting prize for women+ writing for English-speaking theatre. Named for Susan Smith Blackburn (1935–1977), alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer.
W ...
. Her play ''River on Fire'' (2001) won her the second place for the Susan Smith Blackburn theatre award. For her play ''Wide Sargasso Sea'' she received the Writers' Guild of Great Britain radio adaptation award.