By Asif Farrukhi And Sehba Sarwar
You ask her about work in progress and if there are any books in the press these days and she will name three. This is Kishwar Naheed, poet, writer, social activist, translator, editor, an important presence on the literary scene and generally busy on the social scene. The author of several books of poetry, including a hefty volume of collected poems, a new collection of her poetry entitled Wehshat aur Barood Main Lipti Hui Shairi will be out soon. The dialogue of Sartre and de Beauvoir is being reprinted with some additions, and also Qalam Bardashta, the third collection of her columns, which she writes regularly for the newspaper on social issues.
Surrounded by the handiwork of skillful women from across the country, we are sitting in her office at Islamabad, and in between last-minute arrangements for function to be held the next day, instructions to workers, visitors and many other such distractions we manage to talk books and writings.
Known as a voracious reader, Kishwar Naheed likes to keep abreast of the latest developments here and abroad. When asked about what she is reading, she gives an unexpected answer: ‘I am spending most of my time in proofreading,’ and explains that she is putting the finishing touches to the annual report for her organisation. ‘I have just edited the special issue of the Pakistan Academy of Letters’ journal, Adabiyat on Ahmed Faraz. This is a tribute to a good friend and an important poet.’
Oxford University Press, Pakistan is bringing out the English translation of her autobiography, Buri Aurat Ki Katha. It took a lot of effort but finally Durdana Somroo managed to produce an English equivalent of her expression in Urdu. A volume of her selected poems was published a few years ago and so many of her poems have been translated and included in syllabi in many countries that she has lost count.
She has no fixed working habits. ‘I write whenever I get time,’ she says picking up a sheet of paper with an unfinished column from her desk. ‘This comes from working in an office and running a household at the same time. I have learnt to pick up the connection from the point where I have to leave. It is stored in the mind now and I can get it on paper in no time,’ she says showing me the beginnings of a poem written on the back of a letter. ‘I have now completed this poem,’ she informs me as we move on to other topics.
Kishwar Naheed prefaces her comments on the literary scene with an interesting example. ‘In 2008, I received 324 books of poetry from the Pakistan Academy of Letters as I was a judge for a poetry prize. 90 per cent of these books were self-published by the poets. This trend is now at its peak. Just as there are more than 50 media channels, there must be an equal number of such publishers. Nowadays, publishers take the printing costs from the author and then publish the book. Even some of the bigger publishers are doing this. Civil servants and their like started this trend. Then there are those books which bear the name of a girl and are filled with raw emotionalism,’ she says clearly expressing her dissatisfaction with trends she does not like.
‘There are some things which appear very ordinary when you say them in Urdu, but when the same is written in English the writers suddenly acquire the status of world- class writers. All of these young writers who were children growing up before our eyes, talk to their parents and write down the stories they have heard, emphasising our apathy and cultural backwardness as their publishers demand such descriptions,’ she explains what she regards as a new recipe for international success.
‘Those who are doing good work are ignored by the western press. They did not pick Intizar Husain’s Basti as an important novel. Abdullah Hussain could not get this kind of attention in the West. Those who write a little get instant fame and recognition in English but you go on writing all your life in Urdu and nobody gets to hear about you,’ she says. ‘For translations into English, they like the sensational stuff and this is what gets publish. Wasn’t Nirmal Verma a far better writer than V.S. Naipaul? But he was not given the same kind of recognition,’ she quotes an example to complete her argument.
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