Karachi: Awards for ‘Kanwan’ and ‘Jab Ankh Se Na Tipka’

The 10th United Bank Limited (UBL) Literary and Arts Awards ceremony held in Karachi on Friday also saw awards in some new categories. In the same way, in the name of the event, the word “arts” with “literary” was also added.

According to the organizers, dozens of applications were received for the award categories this time as well.

Three of them were then shortlisted for final nominations and one was awarded the award.

This year, the jury members for the Urdu categories included Dr. Asghar Nadeem Syed, Dr. Arfa Syeda Zahra, Dr. Anwar Ahmed, Kishore Naheed and Dr. Nasir Abbas Nair, while the jury for English consisted of Ghazi Salahuddin and Maniza Shamsi.

In Urdu fiction, this time the award was given to Muhammad Ahmed Qazi’s book ‘Kanwaan’ as the best, while in non-fiction Urdu, this award went to Ahmed Saleem’s ‘Jab Ankh Se Na Tipka’.

In the category of Urdu poetry, Sabir Zafar’s book ‘Jamal Aab Se Wasal’ has been awarded this year.

Qazi Ali Abul Hasan’s book ‘Zayqon Se Bhere Rang’ was selected in the category of Urdu language online literature.

In the category of children’s literature, Tasneem Jafari’s novel ‘Zindga Aranda Hai’, and Shoaib Mirza’s story book ‘Babloo Aur Chanda Mama’ shared the award.

Saeed Naqvi’s translation of the English novel ‘Do Nim April’ was declared as the best effort in the field of Urdu translation.

This time a category of Best Urdu Drama Script was also added, which was awarded to renowned writer Faseeh Bari Khan for his play ‘Ghisi Patti Mohabbate’ which was quite different from traditional dramas.

Irfan Shahood was awarded for Debut Author or First Book in Urdu Language for his poem ‘Bey Samti Ke Day’.

Khalid Kanbhar’s ‘Khan Badosh Kbila’ written in Sindhi language was awarded in the regional languages ​​category. The award has been given for the first time in the field of regional languages.

In the non-fiction category, the award for English language went to Iftikhar Malik’s book ‘The Silk Road and Beyond’.

Tamman Shamsi’s ‘Where the Rivers Met’ was declared the best work in English literature for children, while the award for the first book i.e. debut English book was given to Usman Hanif’s ‘The Verdict’.

Pakistani-American writer late Zulfiqar Ghose was also given a posthumous recognition award in the category of ‘Excellence in World Literature’ in English.

The last award of the event ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ was presented to renowned writer, dramatist Anwar Maqsood in recognition of his meritorious services.

Talking about the event, it started very early compared to other awards in the country.

Literature was seen less and art more in the ceremony. The highlight of the evening was Anwar Maqsood’s unique style of satire based on the current political situation.

Kishore Naheed and Arfa Syeda Zahra also made the event a battle of saffron with their sentences. Kishore Naheed also recited a special poem for Mehsa Amini, who was killed over the hijab issue in Iran.

Yasra Rizvi and Khalid Malik did the hosting duties of this event, but both of them were careless and unprepared for the event.

At the very beginning, a young girl, Tosh Shah, warmed up the gathering by reciting the poems of some famous poets including Mir and Faraz, and the truth is that it was the best literary performance of the evening.

In such events, clean language is required, but both the hosts failed to do so. On the issue of pronunciation, Kishore Naheed told the two hosts that both of you do not understand Urdu.

It would have been nice if the award-winning authors and their books were introduced, but just the name was announced, they came and took the award and that was it.

A few sketches and art pieces were also presented during the ceremony, the most special of which was the classical dance of Kaif Ghaznavi.

The event ended with the excellent singing of Abbas Ali Khan, who performed many famous and well-known songs in an excellent manner.

The situation of literature in Pakistan is different, such events are commendable but it is felt that attention needs to be paid to the presentation.

(Editing: Nida Mujahid Hussain)