KARACHI: Short story writer and scholar of Persian and Urdu, Naiyer Masud, passed away on Monday in Lucknow, India, at the age of 80.

Mr Masud was born on Nov 16, 1936 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, to Professor Masud Hasan Rizvi Adeeb, a professor of Persian at Lucknow University, and Husn Jahan Rizvi. He did his BA from Lucknow University in 1953 and his MA in 1955.

He pursued two PhD degrees, one in Urdu from Allahabad University, the other in Persian from Lucknow University. Mr Masud retired as head of the Persian department of Lucknow University and is considered one of the top short story writers of modern times. He was considered to be an authority on Mir Anis.

He married Sabeeha Khatoon Rizvi on Sept 30, 1971 and had four children Timsal, Durdana, Saima and Samra.

In 2007, Mr Masud received the Saraswati Samman, India’s highest literary award and he has to his credit several collections of stories — Seemiya, Itr-i Kafur, Ta’us Chaman ki Mayna and Ganjefa.

Mr Masud is also credited with translating Franz Kafka’s work into Urdu titled Kafka ke Afsane.

Naiyer Masud’s work has also been translated into English, Finnish, French, and Spanish.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2017