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Dr Syed Manzar Hasan, eminent fiction writer from Pakistan, has been declared the winner of 24th Aalmi Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Award, according to Chairman of Majlis-e-Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Mohammad Atiq.
Manzar, whose pen name is Hasan Manzar, was chosen unanimously by an independent jury at a meeting held in Lahore recently. The jury consisted of Dr Khurshid Rizvi, (Chairman), Prof Fateh Mohammad Malik, Prof Dr Mazhar Mahmood Shairani and Prof Dr Zahid Munir Amer. Daud Ahmed Malik was the coordinator.
Dr Manzar will receive the honour along with Noorul Husnain, who has already been declared the winner of the 24th Aalmi Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Award from India on March 14 by the Indian jury, headed by Prof Dr Gopi Chand Narang.
The award function, followed by a grand mushaira, will be held in Doha before the end of the year.
The award carries a cash prize of Rs150,000 and a gold medal for each winner. Since 1996, the award has been given annually to two literary scholars, one from Pakistan and the other from India, for their contribution to the promotion of Urdu language and literature, as a life-time achievement award.
Dr Manzar was born on March, 4, 1934 in Hapur, a town in the district of Meerut, Uttar Pardesh. He got his education until 10th class at Hewett Muslim High School/Inter College, Moradabad. After the partition and migration to Pakistan in 1947, he passed his matriculation examination from Iqbal High School, Lahore in 1948. He passed his Intermediate from Foreman Christian College, Lahore in 1950 and was admitted to BSc first year in Islamia College, Lahore the same year. Later, he got admitted to King Edward Medical College, Lahore and completed his MBBS in 1958. He then moved to Karachi and took a job in Central Excise and Land Customs Hospital, Mauripur. Subsequently, he worked as a surgeon on a Dutch Merchant Ship. Then, he moved to Saudi Arabia as a junior obstetrician and gynecologist at a hospital. Later, he moved to Bush, Africa for a few years and then went to Scotland, earning two separate postgraduate DPM degrees in Psychiatry from University of Edinburgh and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow. From there, he went to Malaysia and taught in the Department of Psychological Medicine and also carried on his medical research work in Kuala Lumpur. Thereafter, he returned to Pakistan and settled in Hyderabad. Dr Manzar has been writing all along and has had a good number of stories, half finished because of the demands of his profession, which often leaves him little or no time. He credits his mother for his thirst of books. His father, Syed Mazhar Hussain, did the same but on a larger scale. His wife, Dr Tahira Manzar, is also fond of reading good literature.
Manzar casts his stories in the realistic mode, almost never deviating from the traditional geometry of plot and structure. Even deep and knotty psychological problems have to be made evident on the surface, not to be guessed.
In an interview aired by the Voice of America in 1995, Dr Manzar remarked: ‘’My stories are inspired by ordinary men and women affected by some sorrow, happiness or longing. (They) are not imagined beings. I mean I am as far away as anyone can get from any kind of romanticism. Subjects, unless they are firmly grounded in objective reality, leave me cold and I almost never feel motivated to probe them in my fiction. It’s the real flesh-and-blood people, victims of oppression and violence, scarred by pain and injustice that touch me. And it does not matter where they come from.’
Manzar has authored a number of books.
His collections of short stories include Rehai (1981), Nadeedi (1983), Insaan Ka Desh (1991), Soi Bhook (1997), Ek Aur Aadmi (1999), Khaak Ka Rutba (2007), Mangal Sootr, Munshi Prem Chand’s last incomplete novel, translated from Hindi (1991), Prem Chand Ghar Mein - Shiv Rani Devi, translated from Hindi (1998) and Jhijak. His children’s books are Samunder Mein Jang (2001) and Jaan Ke Dushman (2004).
He has penned a number of novels such as Al-Asifa (2006), Dhani Bakhsh Ke Bete (2008), Waba (2009), Maa Beti (2010), Ber Sheeba Ki Ladhki (2010), Waka, translation of stories from Hindi. (2010), Insaan Ay Insaan (2013), Manzar Ke Khutoot Kamal Azhar Ke Naam (2011), Habs and Ay Falak Na Insaaf. A drama titled Sadar-e-Mumlakat Ka Khudrau Phool is under printing.
His books in English include A Requiem for the Earth: OUP, Karachi (1998) and The End of Human History: Katha, Delhi. (1999).
In recognition of his literary achievements, Manzar has been honoured with Academy of Letters Award (twice ), United Bank Award, Sindh Government Shaikh Ayaz Award and Best Book Award on novel ‘Ay Falak Na Insaaf’ at Oxford Literature Festival, this year’.
Manzar, whose pen name is Hasan Manzar, was chosen unanimously by an independent jury at a meeting held in Lahore recently. The jury consisted of Dr Khurshid Rizvi, (Chairman), Prof Fateh Mohammad Malik, Prof Dr Mazhar Mahmood Shairani and Prof Dr Zahid Munir Amer. Daud Ahmed Malik was the coordinator.
Dr Manzar will receive the honour along with Noorul Husnain, who has already been declared the winner of the 24th Aalmi Frogh-e-Urdu Adab Award from India on March 14 by the Indian jury, headed by Prof Dr Gopi Chand Narang.
The award function, followed by a grand mushaira, will be held in Doha before the end of the year.
The award carries a cash prize of Rs150,000 and a gold medal for each winner. Since 1996, the award has been given annually to two literary scholars, one from Pakistan and the other from India, for their contribution to the promotion of Urdu language and literature, as a life-time achievement award.
Dr Manzar was born on March, 4, 1934 in Hapur, a town in the district of Meerut, Uttar Pardesh. He got his education until 10th class at Hewett Muslim High School/Inter College, Moradabad. After the partition and migration to Pakistan in 1947, he passed his matriculation examination from Iqbal High School, Lahore in 1948. He passed his Intermediate from Foreman Christian College, Lahore in 1950 and was admitted to BSc first year in Islamia College, Lahore the same year. Later, he got admitted to King Edward Medical College, Lahore and completed his MBBS in 1958. He then moved to Karachi and took a job in Central Excise and Land Customs Hospital, Mauripur. Subsequently, he worked as a surgeon on a Dutch Merchant Ship. Then, he moved to Saudi Arabia as a junior obstetrician and gynecologist at a hospital. Later, he moved to Bush, Africa for a few years and then went to Scotland, earning two separate postgraduate DPM degrees in Psychiatry from University of Edinburgh and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow. From there, he went to Malaysia and taught in the Department of Psychological Medicine and also carried on his medical research work in Kuala Lumpur. Thereafter, he returned to Pakistan and settled in Hyderabad. Dr Manzar has been writing all along and has had a good number of stories, half finished because of the demands of his profession, which often leaves him little or no time. He credits his mother for his thirst of books. His father, Syed Mazhar Hussain, did the same but on a larger scale. His wife, Dr Tahira Manzar, is also fond of reading good literature.
Manzar casts his stories in the realistic mode, almost never deviating from the traditional geometry of plot and structure. Even deep and knotty psychological problems have to be made evident on the surface, not to be guessed.
In an interview aired by the Voice of America in 1995, Dr Manzar remarked: ‘’My stories are inspired by ordinary men and women affected by some sorrow, happiness or longing. (They) are not imagined beings. I mean I am as far away as anyone can get from any kind of romanticism. Subjects, unless they are firmly grounded in objective reality, leave me cold and I almost never feel motivated to probe them in my fiction. It’s the real flesh-and-blood people, victims of oppression and violence, scarred by pain and injustice that touch me. And it does not matter where they come from.’
Manzar has authored a number of books.
His collections of short stories include Rehai (1981), Nadeedi (1983), Insaan Ka Desh (1991), Soi Bhook (1997), Ek Aur Aadmi (1999), Khaak Ka Rutba (2007), Mangal Sootr, Munshi Prem Chand’s last incomplete novel, translated from Hindi (1991), Prem Chand Ghar Mein - Shiv Rani Devi, translated from Hindi (1998) and Jhijak. His children’s books are Samunder Mein Jang (2001) and Jaan Ke Dushman (2004).
He has penned a number of novels such as Al-Asifa (2006), Dhani Bakhsh Ke Bete (2008), Waba (2009), Maa Beti (2010), Ber Sheeba Ki Ladhki (2010), Waka, translation of stories from Hindi. (2010), Insaan Ay Insaan (2013), Manzar Ke Khutoot Kamal Azhar Ke Naam (2011), Habs and Ay Falak Na Insaaf. A drama titled Sadar-e-Mumlakat Ka Khudrau Phool is under printing.
His books in English include A Requiem for the Earth: OUP, Karachi (1998) and The End of Human History: Katha, Delhi. (1999).
In recognition of his literary achievements, Manzar has been honoured with Academy of Letters Award (twice ), United Bank Award, Sindh Government Shaikh Ayaz Award and Best Book Award on novel ‘Ay Falak Na Insaaf’ at Oxford Literature Festival, this year’.
