Zahida Hina ( Urdu: زاہدہ حنا) is a noted Urdu columnist, essayist, short story writer, novelist and dramatist from Pakistan.

Life

Zahida was born in India, after the independence of Pakistan in 1947, her father, Muhammad Abul Khair, emigrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi, where Zahida was brought up and homeschooled until she started her formal education from 7th class at Happy Home School. She wrote her first story when she was nine years old. She graduated from University of Karachi, and her first essay was published in the monthly ''Insha'' in 1962. She chose journalism as a career in mid-60s. In 1970, she married the well-known poet Jaun Elia. Zahida Hina was associated with the daily ''Jang'' from 1988 until 2005 when she moved to the '' Daily Express, Pakistan''. She now lives in Karachi. Hina has also worked for Radio Pakistan,

BBC Urdu BBC Urdu ( ur, ) is the Urdu language station of the BBC World Service, accompanied by its website, which serves as a news portal and provides online access to radio broadcasts. The radio service is broadcast from Broadcasting House in London an ...

and Voice of America. Since 2006, she has written a weekly column, Pakistan Diary in Rasrang, the Sunday magazine of India's largest read Hindi newspaper, Dainik Bhaskar.

Work

Zahida Hina has written more than two thousand journalistic articles. Many of her short stories have been translated into English, Bengali, Hindi and

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

. Some of her important titles are: * ''Qaidi sans leta hai'' (collection of short stories) * ''Titlian dhondhne wali'' (collections of stories) * ''Raqs-i-bismil hai'' (collections of stories) * ''Rah main ajal hai'' (collection of short stories) * ''Na junoon raha na pari rahi'' (short novel) * ''Dard ka Shajar'' (Novel) * ''Dard-e-Ashob'' (Novel) * ''Zard Paton ka ban'' (TV Drama) * ''The House of Loneliness'' (Zahida Hina's short stories translated into English) She is a known critic of nuclear technology for any purpose (military or civilian). Her books have been translated into English by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Samina Rahman and Muhammad Umar Memon.Zahida Hina's translated short stories 'The House of Loneliness' launched
Dawn (newspaper), Updated 9 May 2017, Retrieved 22 February 2018

Awards

* ''Faiz Award'' * ''Literary Performance Award'' * ''Saghir Siddiqui Adabi Award'' * ''K. P. Award'' * ''Sindh Speaker Award'' * ''SAARC Literary Award'' in 2001 by the President of IndiaKARACHI: Zahida Hina gets SAARC Award
Dawn (newspaper), Published 27 December 2001, Retrieved 22 February 2018Zahida Hina interview: Challenging the mindset
Dawn (newspaper), Published 16 December 2012, Retrieved 22 February 2018 In August 2006, she was nominated for Pakistan's highest award, the ''Presidential Award'' Pride of Performance, which she declined as a mark of protest against the military government in Pakistan

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hina, Zahida Living people Pakistani people of Bihari descent Pakistani feminist writers Pakistani columnists Pakistani women columnists Pakistani essayists Women essayists Pakistani women journalists Pakistani television writers University of Karachi alumni Journalists from Karachi Writers from Karachi Urdu-language essayists Urdu-language columnists Urdu-language dramatists and playwrights Pakistani dramatists and playwrights Pakistani women dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Urdu-language writers Urdu-language women writers Urdu-language novelists Year of birth missing (living people) Pakistani women novelists Pakistani novelists 20th-century Pakistani women writers 20th-century Pakistani writers 21st-century Pakistani women writers 21st-century Pakistani writers Women television writers People from Karachi