Zahida Hina


Zahida Hina is a noted Urdu columnist, essayist, short story writer, novelist and dramatist from Pakistan.

Life

Zahida Hina was born in India, after the independence of Pakistan in 1947. Her father, Muhammad Abul Khair, emigrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi, where Hina 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 the mid-1960s.
In 1970, she married the well-known poet Jaun Elia.
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 and Voice of America.
Since 2006, she has written a weekly column, "Pakistan Diary", in Rasrang, the Sunday magazine of India's most widely-read Hindi newspaper, Dainik Bhaskar.

Work

Hina has written more than 2,000 journalistic articles. Many of her short stories have been translated into English, Bengali, Hindi and Marathi. Some of her important titles are:Qaidi sans leta hai Titlian dhondhne wali Raqs-i-bismil hai Rah main ajal hai Na junoon raha na pari rahi Dard ka Shajar Dard-e-Ashob Zard Paton ka ban The House of Loneliness
She is a known critic of nuclear technology for any purpose.
Her books have been translated into English by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Samina Rahman and Muhammad Umar Memon.

Awards

In August 2006, she was nominated for Pakistan's highest civil award, the Presidential Award Pride of Performance, which she declined as a mark of protest against the military government in Pakistan.