AMU Professor Shafey Kidwai gets Sahitya Akademi award for book on Sir Syed Ahmad Khan

Aligarh: Noted bilingual critic, scholar and columnist, Professor Shafey Kidwai has received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award (2019) in Delhi for his seminal Urdu work “Sawanah-e-Sir Syed – Ek Bazdeed”.

Noted Kannada author and Jnanpith awardee, Prof Chandrashekhar Kambar, President, Sahitya Akademi, the National Academy of Letters, gave the award to Prof Kidwai, along with the awardees of other languages, including Dr Shashi Tharoor, at a glittering function presided over by the chief guest, eminent poet and lyricist, Gulzar. Dr Madhav Kaushik, Vice Chairman, Sahitya Akademi presented a shawl and certificate to Prof Kidwai.

The book seeks to revisit the biographical details and literary accomplishments of Sir Syed and it supplements what has escaped the attention of any biographers of Sir Syed including Khawaja Altaf Husain Hali.

Prof Kidwai, also Chairman, Department of Mass Communication, has been honoured with Madya Pradesh government’s prestigious award “Iqbal Samman” in 2016 and Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy’s award “Amir Khusro Award” in 1918.

He has been teaching communication studies, film studies, Broadcast journalism, Editing, sports journalism and Urdu Journalism for more than 30 years. He writes in English and Urdu with equal felicity. His book titled “Urdu Literature and Journalism: Critical Perspectives”, published by the Cambridge University Press, has received wide critical acclaim. His latest book “Reason, Religion and Nation: The Search of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan” is being published by a reputed international publisher.

His column on culture and literature? Going Native? appears in Friday Review, the Hindu, fortnightly.

Prof Kidwai’s Urdu books, ‘Fiction Motaleyat: Ma-baad-e-Jadeed Tanazur’ (2011) and ‘Meeraji’ (2001) are well discussed among reviewers. The Sahitya Akademi has published his monograph on RK Narayan in 2009. He has translated several books from English into Urdu including ‘Michal Madhusudan Dutt’ (1995) and ‘Our Constitution’ (2009). His book ‘Khabar Nigari’ (1988) is the first book on the art of reporting in Urdu.

Earlier, a number of litterateurs from AMU have received this prestigious award including Prof Rasheed Ahmad Siddiqui, Prof Ale Ahmad Suroor, Prof Masood Hussain Khan, Prof Khawaja Ghulamus Sayyidain, Prof Yusuf Hussain Khan, Prof Asloob Ahmad Ansari, Prof Shahryar and Prof Abul Kalam Qasmi.