LONDON: Friends, family and well-wishers of late Dawn columnist Irfan Husain gathered in Kensington, London, on Wednesday evening to celebrate his life and writing with the publication of a book titled, A Life Lived with Passion: Irfan Husain.

Edited by journalist Ca­­r­men Gonzalez and her hus­­band, former Dawn edi­­tor Abbas Nasir, the book was commissioned by Hus­ain’s wife Charlotte and son Shakir. The book is a compilation of his columns spanning the per­iod from 1992 to 2020, when he passed away, with the editors perusing some 2 million words written by him over nearly three decades.

Born in Amritsar, India, Husain was educated in Karachi, Paris and Ankara. He joined the Pakistani civil service in 1967 but pursued freelance journalism for the majority of his working life. His book Fatal Faultlines: Pakistan, Islam and the West was published by ArcMa­nor in the US and later by Har­perCollins India. It won the first prize for politics and current affairs at the Benjamin Franklin Awards.

The event was well-att­e­nded with a packed venue. There were lots of laughter and cheerful discussions about Husain’s love for life, writing and food as guests enjoyed drinks and canapes. Many recalled that he had a wonderful sense of humour. The book launch took place at the home of the Dufferin family who were friends of Husain and Charlotte, with many marvelling at the artwork by the late Lindy Dufferin who also passed away in 2020. In a speech to introduce the editors, Charlotte said that Husain had launched an earlier book in this house.

In his speech, Abbas Nasir described his friend Husain as “well-read, awe-inspiring, soft spoken and polite to a fault”. He also reminded listeners that Husain was tough to edit, as he “fought for every word he wrote”.

Having been his friend and editor at Dawn, Abbas said Husain “could see right from wrong from miles away”. Gonzalez remarked that it was an “enormous journey” to peruse his work. She described Husain as a “Renaissance man” who wrote about every subject, topic or issue, from “international issues to English tea parties in the countryside”. Gonzalez noted that he wrote profoundly about the conflicted relationship bet­ween India and Pakistan.

Other Dawn columnists and writers Mohammed Hanif, Umber Khairi, Huma Yusuf and Nadir Cheema were also at the event. Hanif remembered Husain as “the first Pakistani columnist who wrote about food in detail and eccentricity”.

Cheema said, “Irfan ins­pired a whole generation of young writers through his writing and as a gracious host”.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2023