Ali Akbar Natiq was born in 1977. He is a Pakistani novelist, fiction writer, and poet. He became famous for his novel Nolakhi Kothi. Natiq has published several books of poetry and fiction so far. The UBL award has been conferred on Qaim Deen, a fiction collection by Natiq.
Biography
As a result of the riots of 1947, Ali Akbar Natiq’s family migrated from Ferozepur and settled in 32 ToL, a suburb of Okara in central Punjab. He was born in 1977 and completed high school in the same village.
In 1998, he passed the FA exam at Government College Okara. Nevertheless, due to poor economic conditions and financial difficulties, he managed to get his BA and MA exams from Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, privately.
He continued to work as a mason for fifteen years, in addition to his studies of Urdu prose, poetry, history, and society. At the same time, he continued his studies of Urdu prose, poetry, history, and culture. In 1998, he also spent some time in Saudi Arabia. His return to Pakistan led him to be associated with Iswah College Islamabad as a teacher in Urdu for several years.
In the middle of 2017, he joined the University of Lahore as an assistant professor. After some time, he left the university and returned to his native village of Okara. Later, he moved to Islamabad, where he has lived ever since.
Literary work
In 2010 he published his first collection of poetry, “Beyaqeen Bastiyon Mein,” followed by a collection of short stories in 2012, “Qaim Deen,” published by Oxford University Press. These two books were all recognized by the UBL and Oxford Awards for excellence. In English, Penguin Random House India has compiled a collection of short stories titled “What Will You Give For This Beauty?”
In 2011, the international literary magazine Granta published his story “Mason’s Hand” as part of its special issue on Pakistan.
Ali Akbar Natiq’s second collection of poetry, ‘Yaqoot Ke Warq,’ contains selected poems translated into German for the first time for this book.
His first novel ‘Naulakhi Kothi‘ launched at the 6th Karachi Literature Festival in 2013.
The novel has been translated into English and is expected to be published by Penguin India and America soon. After being inspired by Natiq’s book Qaim Deen, Danish Husain, an Indian actor and theatre director, adapted four of Natiq’s short stories to create his play “Ek Punjab Ye Bhi,” They premiered at the Prithvi Theatre, Mumbai, in 2015 during the Prithvi Theatre Festival.
“Shah Muhammad Ka Tanga” is Natiq’s second collection of short stories published in Urdu. It has been translated into Hindi and English under the same name by Jagarnath Publishing, India.
Ali Akbar Natiq is a poet who wrote poetry and fiction. However, he also wrote a critical account of the poetry of the famous poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal. He published a book that discussed the essential aspects of versification in poetry.
On July 18, 2018, he published an article in the American newspaper The New York Times concerning the issue of democracy in Pakistan.
In 2020, he published his second novel, “Kamari Wala.”
Books by Ali Akbar Natiq
- Naulakhi Kothi (Novel) (نو لکھی کوٹھی)
- Kamari Wala (Novel) (کماری والا),
- Sabz Bastion Ke Ghazaal (سبز بستیوں کے غزال)
- Qaim Deen (Short Stories) (قائم دین)
- Yaqoot Ke Warq (Poetry) (یاقوت کے ورق)
- Shah Muhammad Ka Tanga ( Short stories) (شاہ محمد کا ٹانگہ)
- Fakeer Basti Main Tha (فقیر بستی میں تھا)
- Be Yaqeen Bastion Main (Poetry) (بے یقین بستیوں میں)
At last, I hope you liked the biography and books of Ali Akbar Natiq. You may also want to read Iqbal Kazmi and Razia Butt‘s history.