ISLAMABAD, Jan 10: A Mushaira was organized in honour of British-Pakistani Urdu poetess, Farzana Khan 'Neena' at the Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) on Friday. The event was presided over by the PAL chairman, Iftikhar Arif.

Mr Arif said Farzana Khan was typical of expatriate poets who had an advantage over native poets in expressing original ideas and imagery. He said this was also a fact that expatriate writers were not well at transmuting feelings with the same intensity. In his view, Farzana Khan was certainly a new distinctive voice in Urdu poetry. She used tender expressions and a strange and novel scheme in meters that reverberated with strong musical beats.

In fact Iftikhar Arif's verses, which he read at the end of the Mushaira, sounded like a well deserved tribute to the poetess; Mere Chirag Hunar Ka Mamla Hai Kuch Aur Ek Baar Jala Hai Phir Bujhe Ga Naheen (The Muse this time is bright, and once lighted it will not be extinguished).

A number of senior poets such as Ehsan Akbar, Sultan Rashk, Jalil Aali, Qayyum Tahir, Akhtar Shaikh, Imdad Akash, Manzar Naqvi, Mahbub Zafar, Anjum Khaleeq, Ghazanfar Hashmi, read their poetical pieces at the Mushaira that was conducted by a literary organization, Danish (Wisdom).

Here, Farzana Khan surprised everyone with the range and depth in the couplet that she read, Kan Men Main Ne Pehan Lee Hai Tumhari Awaz/Ab Meray Vaste Bekaar Hain Chandi Sona.

She seeks inspiration for her poetry from the glades of Nottinghamshire, England, the county of Lord Byron and Robin Hood, where she had been living for over 28 years.

She works as a broadcaster for Asia Women Project Radio, besides being a beauty therapist and a consultant for immigrants' education.

Her book of Urdu poetry titled Dard Ki Neeli Ragen (Blue veins of pain) published last December 2003, is a collection of 64 Ghazals and 24 Nazms.

The collection has received favourable reviews from a number of eminent Urdu poets, including Mohsin Ehsan, who had stated that her work was marked with 'multicolour' words. Everyone was impressed with her boldness as well as her delicate feelings, he added.

In addition there is an extraordinary rhythm. About technical aspects of Farzana's work, a literary critic, Shaukat Wasti, says it deserve serious study.