Najeeba Arif Wins Infaq Best Urdu Writer Award 2025

News Desk

Islamabad: Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) Chairperson Prof. Dr. Najeeba Arif has won the Infaq Best Urdu Writer Award 2025 at the 10th Adab Festival Pakistan in Karachi, recognising her remarkable literary achievements and lifelong dedication to Urdu literature.

According to a press release issued on Saturday, the award honours her significant contributions as an author, critic, academic, and literary scholar. Dr. Najeeba Arif, the first woman to head the Pakistan Academy of Letters, is widely celebrated for her work across fiction, poetry, research, and literary criticism.

She previously served as the Dean of the Faculty of Languages and Literature at the International Islamic University, Islamabad.

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With over twenty published books, 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 research and critical works span key titles 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, 9/11 aur Pakistani Urdu Afsana, and Shifting Narratives: A Brief History of Sirah Literature in Urdu.

Dr. Najeeba Arif has previously received multiple accolades, including the Best Urdu Literary Book Award (2015) for Ma‘ani Se Ziyada and the Parveen Shakir Trust’s Aks-e-Khushboo Award (2022) for Meethay Nalkay.

The Infaq Award is the latest recognition of her outstanding creative, scholarly, and critical contributions to Urdu literature.