Iftikhar Arif

Iftikhar Hussain Arif (born 21 March 1944), is an Urdu poet, scholar and littérateur from Pakistan. His style is romantic Urdu poetry. He has headed the Pakistan Academy of Letters and the National Language Authority. He has received the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Presidential Pride of Performance awards, the highest literary awards given by the Government of Pakistan.

Early life and career
Arif attended the University of Lucknow, then studied journalism at New York University. He then migrated to Karachi, Pakistan, where he was a newscaster for Radio Pakistan. He then joined the Pakistan Television Corporation (Karachi Center) where he teamed up with Obaidullah Baig for the PTV program Kasauti.

He spent the next thirteen years in England, until 1990, working for Urdu Markaz there.

Achievements


Arif has published three poetry collections: Mehr-i-Doneem (1984), Harf-i-Baryab (1994) and Jahan-e-Maloom.

Oxford University Press has published an anthology of his translated poetry, Written in the Season of Fear, with an introduction by Harris Khalique, a poet who writes in English, Urdu and Punjabi.

Awards

 * Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Crescent of Excellence) Award by the President of Pakistan (2005)
 * Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) Award by the President of Pakistan (1999)
 * Pride of Performance (literature) by the President of Pakistan (1990)
 * Faiz International Award for Poetry from the Aalami Urdu Conference