The 5th UBL Literary Excellence Awards were held here on Sunday. People belonging to different walks of life attended the ceremony held as a part of Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) at a local hotel. Speaking on the occasion, UBL's president and chief executive officer Wajahat Husain said purpose of organising this event is to encourage new writers as well as to appreciate the efforts of those who have rendered their services for the promotion of Urdu and English literature in Pakistan.
The initiative, he said, was taken in 2010, with a vision to promote the country's writers and to encourage the habit of reading among the youth, he added.
He said that "This year, we received some 82 nominations in seven categories of writings - Urdu fiction, Urdu non-fiction, Urdu poetry, Urdu (Translation), Urdu (Children's literature), English (Non-fiction), and English (Children's literature) -, and of them 26 were short-listed for the literary excellence award.
Among the three short-listed Urdu fictions, Muhammad Aasim Butt's 'Na Tamam' was declared winner; Imdad Hussaini's 'Dhoop Kiran' clinched Urdu (Poetry) award; Aslam Farrukhi's 'Bazm-e-Raunaq-e-Jehan' got the award for Urdu (Non-fiction) writing; Huma Anwar's 'Surkh Mera Naam' was adjudged as the best book in the category of Urdu (Translation); Najma Parveen's 'Sunehri Kahaniyan' and Akhtar Abbas' 'Dragon Ki Wapsi' shared the Urdu (Children's literature) award, while Hamida Khuhro's book titled 'A children's history of Balochistan' got English (Children's literature) award.
Speaking on the occasion, Hamida Khuhro said, "My grandchildren are living abroad; they are not familiar with Pakistan, its history and culture. The only way to get them know about and bring them back to Pakistan is to give them the book."
The participants of the event also observed one minute's silence to pay tribute to acclaimed Urdu writer and novelist Intizar Hussain who recently passed away in Lahore.
Speaking on the occasion, Kishwar Naheed said: "Today, he (Intizar Hussain) is not with us physically, but his novels, short stories, columns and poetry, will keep him alive in millions hearts and never let him die for long."
She urged the young writers to go through Intizar Hussain's novels to become good writers.
Members of jury included Ghazi Salahuddin, Asif Farrukhi, Kishwar Naheed, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Arfa Saeda Zahra, and Framji Minwalla.