Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-1984) was the leading Pakistani Urdu poet of his time. He was known both for his love poetry and his left-wing political verse.
Faiz Ahmad Faiz was born on Feb. 13, 1911, near Sialkot in the Punjab in what was then British India. He graduated from Government College, Lahore, with degrees in English and Arabic. In 1942, he joined the public relations department of the Indian Army. Five years later, he resigned to go to Lahore. From then on, he had a varied career as a journalist, poet, political activist, labor leader, filmmaker, and broadcaster.
Faiz edited various newspapers and magazines, in English and Urdu. They included the left-wing Pakistan Times, a daily English-language newspaper. After Pakistan was created in 1947, he was imprisoned several times for his writings and soon became a symbol of protest against oppressive governments. He was imprisoned from 1951 to 1955 on a charge of taking part in an attempt to overthrow the Pakistan government. His political activism forced him into long periods of exile in the Middle East.
Faiz’s poems have been translated into several languages. He also received many awards, including the Lenin Peace Prize, the Soviet Union’s highest award for public service, in 1962. He died on Nov. 20, 1984.
