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By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The Urdu Academy of North America held a literary event on February 7, 2016 to honor the visiting Prof. Nabila Kiani of Government College University, Lahore.
The event was held at the Chandni Restaurant, Newark, CA where Prof. Kiani spoke about the life and work of a prominent Urdu poet Majeed Amjad.
Urdu poet Majeed Amjad was born on on June 29, 1914 in Jhang (Pakistan). He died on May 11, 1974 in Sahiwal where he spent most time of his life.
Majeed Amjad's first collection of poetry, Shab-e-Rafta, was published in 1958 for which he wrote a preface in verse. This was published by Naya Idara in Lahore and was the only collection published in his lifetime even though he had written steadily throughout his life. After his death, the manuscripts of his unpublished poetry were preserved by Javaid Qureshi who was then the deputy commissioner of Sahiwal. In 1976, Javaid Qureshi and others published a second collection of his poetry titled Shab-e-Rafta Ke Baad. It was not until 1989 that the Urdu critic Khawaja Muhammad Zakariya edited and published a complete collection of his works called Kuliyat-e-Majeed Amjad. [Wikipedia]
He was perhaps amongst the most under-recognized and under-appreciated of our great Urdu posts poets. As literary blogger Fawad Zakariya argues that even amongst the lovers of Urdu poetry his name is least likely to be remembered because Majeed Amjad was not an ideological poet affiliated with one or the other group of literary luminaries who could beat their partisan drums on his behalf (Progressive Writers Movement managed to turn everyone who knew the words ‘mazdoor’ or ‘kisan’ into literary giants).
In her hour-long discourse, Prof. Nabila Kiani spoke about the literary devices such as poem and prose She spoke extensively about the feminist poetry of Majeed Amjad.
Prof. Nabila Kiani analysed Amjad's four poems about women. The three were: famous Indian film actress Nargis, a German lady Shalak and granddaughter of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) Hazrat Zainab. The fourth women was Nabila Kiani who was a neighbor of Amjad in Sahiwal.
She was of the view that Amjad is basically a poet for the novelists. In his poems Amjad portrays his theme as a character. She added that the novelists may learn characterization from Amjad's poems.
Prof. Nabila Kiani was a lecturer at the Government College University in Lahore. She was retired as associate professor. Prof. Nabila Kiani is a writer and a columnist.
Her presentation was followed by a mini-mushaira where prominent Diaspora poets Dr. Khalida, Arshad Rashid, Ahmar Shahwar and Tashie Zaheer amused the audience with their thought provoking renditions.
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