In Their Own Voice: Zehra Nigah
An Evening of Readings and Recollections Featuring Zehra Nigah
Zehra Nigah is one of Pakistan’s most prominent and loved poets. She appeared on the literary horizon as a child prodigy in the 1950s and has consistently been hailed as the one voice worth listening to on the mushaeraa circuit.
Zehra Nigah views life around her through the eyes of a woman but her concerns are not those of a woman alone. She speaks in a woman’s tongue, using feminine imagery and idiom to make powerful social and political commentary. She has alluded to the bitter war that culminated in the creation of Bangladesh as well as the heart-rending situation in Afghanistan. She has written of the repressive Hudood Ordinances introduced during General Zia’s oppressive regime and also about love, friendship and small everyday joys and sorrows.
Zehra Nigah has published two volumes of poetry, Shaam ka Pehla Taara and Waraq. She says she has never felt the urge to be prolific, to write when there is nothing to say. Yet every word that emerges from her pen, every syllable that she speaks, carries the spark of a luminous intelligence. (Some excerpts from the Hindu Literary Review)
We are especially honored to host Zehra Nigah at The Second Floor and look forward to a memorable evening of poetry and anecdotes.
Date: Wednesday 18th June, 2008
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