Renowned author Intizar Hussain passes away

He was a diabetic patient and was under treatment for pneumonia and kidney diseases at a hospital of Lahore.

His funeral prayer will be offered on Wednesday after Namaz e Zohar, local media reports said.

Intizar Hussain was born on December 7, 1923 in Bulandshahr, India, and migrated to Pakistan in 1947.

He wrote short stories and novels in Urdu, and columns for newspapers in English.

Hussain received many literary awards in Pakistan and India and was also nominated for prestigious Man Bookers International Prize in 2013.

The Seventh Door and Leaves are among some of his books translated into English. His writings include “Basti”, “Hindustan Se Aakhri Khat”, “Agay Samander Hai”, “Shehr-e-Afsos”, “Jataka Tales”, “Janam Kahanian” and “Wo Jo Kho Gaye”.

Intizar Hussain received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Lahore Literary Festival in 2012. He was awarded French civil award Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in September 2014.
He was Pakistan’s foremost Urdu prose writer who has retained his excellence in storytelling for decades.

His novels and short stories, columns and memoirs – chronicles the unresolved questions of identity, location and migration. Hussain’s novel ‘ Basti’, epitomizes the conflicts and contradictions of human existence that Intizar Hussain has pursued throughout his long literary career.