Naiyer Masud (1936 – 24 July 2017) was an Indian

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

writer.

Early life and education

Masud was born in

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

and spent nearly all his life there, working until his retirement as a Professor of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Lucknow University The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher edu ...

. Masud was the son of Masud Hassan Rizvi, also a Lucknow University Professor of Persian, a famed scholar of dastaan who was awarded the '

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

' for 'Literature and Education' in 1970. He is the elder brother of the noted satirist Azhar Masud.

Career and honors

Masud is the author of many scholarly books and translations (notably of

Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typi ...

), but is best known for his short stories, collected in the volumes

Ganjifa Ganjifa, Ganjapa or Gânjaphâ, is a card game and type of playing cards that are most associated with Persia and India. After Ganjifa cards fell out of use in Iran before the twentieth century, India became the last country to produce them. The f ...

, Simiya, Itr-e-kaafoor, and Taoos Chaman Ki Myna. For the last, he was awarded the 2001 Urdu prize of the Sahitya Akademi and the

Saraswati Samman The Saraswati Samman is an annual award for outstanding prose or poetry literary works in any of the 22 languages of India listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India. It is named after the Hindu goddess of knowledge, Saraswati. The Saras ...

in 2007. He received the honor of being the subject of the entire 1997 issue of the Annual of Urdu Studies. A large selection of his stories have been translated into English by M.U. Memon in the volumes '' The Snake Catcher'' and '' Essence of Camphor''.

References

A Taste for Secrecy: Reading Naiyer Masud. Almost Island, 2018

M.U. Memon, Naiyer Masud: A Prefatory Note

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masud, Naiyer 1936 births 2017 deaths Urdu-language writers from India Indian Muslims Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu Writers from Lucknow University of Lucknow faculty Urdu-language writers Urdu-language short story writers 20th-century Indian short story writers