Faiz Ahmad Faiz (redirected from Faiz Ahmed Faiz)

Faiz, Faiz Ahmad 

Born Feb. 13, 1911, in Sialkot. Pakistani poet, critic, and public figure writing in Urdu and Punjabi.

Faiz studied in colleges in Sialkot between 1917 and 1929 and in Lahore between 1929 and 1934. From 1947 to 1951 and from 1955 to 1958 he was editor of the progressive newspaper Pakistan Times; from 1948 to 1951 and from 1955 to 1958 he also edited the newspaper Imros. Faiz was one of the founders and leaders of the peace movement in Pakistan. In 1950 he became a member of the World Peace Council. He attended the first Conference of Asian Writers in Delhi in 1956, as well as Asian and African writers in Tashkent in 1958 and in Alma-Ata in 1973.

Between 1951 and 1955, Faiz was in prison on the charge of taking part in an antigovernmental conspiracy in Rawalpindi. He became chairman of the Arts Council of Pakistan in 1972.

Faiz’ lyrics are marked by a civic spirit and a concern with political issues. His preferred genres are the ghazal, the qasida, and the marsia. Faiz has endowed traditional imagery with new content and revolutionary symbolism. His verse collections include Sorrowful Patterns (1941), Arms of the Wind (1952; Russian translation, 1960), Poems in Prison (1957), A Hand Pressed Under a Stone (1963), and The Valley of Sinai (1971). Faiz has also published a collection of critical articles on literature, Scales (1962), and the collection of letters Crosses on My Window (1971). He was awarded the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Nations in 1962 and the Lotus Afro-Asian literary prize in 1975.

WORKS

In Russian translation:
“Mnogoobrazie i zhiznennaia sila.” Inostrannaia literatura, 1964, no. 4.
“Pis’ma na voliu.” Ibid., 1965, no. 10.
“Rol’ khudozhnika v razvivaiushcheisia strane.” Ibid., 1970, no. 10.
[“Stikhi.”] Ibid., 1976, no. 2.
Izbrannoe. Dushanbe, 1976.

REFERENCES

Glebov, N. V. “Faiz Akhmad Faiz: K 60-letiiu so dnia rozhdeniia.” Narody Azii i Afriki, 1971, no. 3.
Salganik, M. “Sviaz’ vremen.” Inostrannaia literatura, 1976, no. 2.

M. L. SALGANIK