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ISLAMABAD, Nov 22 (APP):Renowned writer, literary scholar and Chairperson of Pakistan Academy of Letters(PAL) Prof. Dr. Najeeba Arif has been awarded the Infaq Best Urdu Writer Award 2025 during the 10th Adab Festival Pakistan, held in Karachi.
The accolade celebrates her lifelong commitment to Urdu literature and her exceptional contributions as an author, critic, and academic, said a press release issued here on Saturday.
Prof. Dr. Najeeba Arif is a distinguished novelist, short-story writer, poet, editor, researcher, and critic. She also holds the distinction of being the first woman to serve as Chairperson of the Pakistan Academy of Letters.
Prior to this role, she served as Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Literature at the International Islamic University, Islamabad.
To date, more than twenty books by Dr. Najeeba Arif have been published. Her notable works include Meethay Nalkay (short stories), Mukhota (novel), Raagni Ki Khoj Mein (memoir), Ma‘ani se Ziyada (poetry), and Navah-e-Kazima (a versified Urdu translation of Qasida Burda Sharif.
Her critical and research contributions include significant works such as Urdu Fiction: Mazahir-o-Mabahis, Islam, Pakistan aur Maghrib, Raftah-o-Ainda, Atharvin Sadi ke Do Nadir Safarnamay, Sair-e-Mulk-e-Awadh (an unpublished travelogue by Yusuf Khan Kambalposh), 9/11 aur Pakistani Urdu Afsana (a study on the new resistance trend in Urdu literature), and Shifting Narratives: A Brief History of Sirah Literature in Urdu.
Earlier, Prof. Najeeba Arif’s poetry collection Ma‘ani Se Ziyada received the Best Urdu Literary Book Award (2015), while her short-story collection Meethay Nalkay was honored with the Parveen Shakir Trust’s Aks-e-Khushboo Award (2022).
The Adab festival’s latest honour acknowledges Prof. Dr. Najeeba Arif’s outstanding creative, scholarly, and critical contributions to Urdu literature.