Poet of the Year 2018: Ishrat Afreen

Ishrat Afreen (Urdu: عشرت آفرین; Hindi: इशऱत आफरीन) is an Urdu poet and women’s rights activist named one of the five most influential and trend-setting female voices and part of the feminist movement in Urdu Literature.

Afreen has published two collections of poetry entitled Kunj Peeleh Poolon Ka (1985) and Dhoop Apne Hisse Ki (2005). Amongst others, she has been included in the prestigious anthology We Sinful Women and inspired the well-known anthology Beyond Belief: Contemporary Feminist Urdu Poetry. Ishrat Afreen ki Shairi was a book written solely on Afreen’s poetry by novelist and literary critic Ikram Barelvi. From Beyond Belief:

Ishrat Afreen’s debut collection: A Grove of Yellow Flowers