Fauzia Rafique gets Ali Arshad Mir Award for novella ‘Keerru’

Amjad Salim Minhas, the Publisher of ‘Keerru’, received
the award from Farooq Nadeem in Lahore

Fauzia Rafique’s novella ‘Keerru’
(Sanjh Publications, Lahore 2019)
has received Ali Arshad Mir Award 2020
for the best in Punjabi Literature (prose).
Presented at the 12th Mir Punjabi Mela
organized by Professor Ali Arshad Mir Foundation
and Punjab Arts Council
at Lahore’s Open air Theatre
on December 26-27, 2020.

When i saw Hassan Junaid Arshad’s Facebook message informing me that ‘Keerru‘ has won Ali Arshad Mir Award, i was amazed because it is a tough book to recommend.* Anyone can enjoy reading ‘Keerru’ but in order to recommend it the readers/jurors must be free of prejudices related to not just class, caste and patriarchy but also of religion and sexuality. I know that this is a tall order, but ‘Keerru’ aka the Little Big Book, does it effortlessly in just over a hundred pages. My compliments to the decision makers of this award for choosing it.

This is the complete list of award winners. Congratulations to my peers for excellence in each area.
Fauzia Rafique (Literature, prose)
Dr. Saeed Bhutta (Research)
Hameed Razi (Translation)
Asim Padhiar (Poetry, nazm)
Zafar Awan (Poetry, ghazal)
Abdul Karim Qudsi (Children, poetry)
Dr. Fazeelat Bano (Children, prose)
Mahboob Sarmad (Faith-based, poetry)
Aleem Shakeel was posthumously awarded Ali Arshad Mir Service Award for his contributions to Punjabi literature.

My thanks to jurors, organizers and participants of the 12th Mir Punjabi Mela 2020.

It is delightful that at the end of 2019, both my hometowns, Surrey and Lahore, honored me by recognizing my work; earlier, I had received the City of Surrey’s Arts and Heritage Literary Arts Award.

This is a hopeful beginning for 2021. Happy New Year to us all!

*That is also the reason why I value the reviews of ‘Keerru’ by Qaisar Abbas, Ramsha Ashraf, and Sara Kazmi. Thank you.

Fauzia Rafique
gandholi.wordpress.com
Author of Skeena, The Adventures of SahebaN: Biography of a Relentless Warrior, and Holier Than Life
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