‘Ainak wala jin’ creator A Hameed passes away

The renowned Urdu writer, author of several poetry and prose tomes, was 83.

Abdul Hameed, known simply as A Hameed, wrote over 200 books and contributed greatly to children’s literature. His fantasy series of 100 novels, known as Ambar Naag Maria, and legendary television series Ainak Wala Jin are his notable works.

Hameed was born in Amritsar, India, in 1928, where he completed his secondary education. He studied for his Intermediate in Pakistan and joined Radio Pakistan as an assistant script editor. He later joined Voice of America radio network.

Meanwhile, his first collection of short stories Manzil Manzil received great acclaim from readers and made him a well-recognised romantic short story writer.

Apart from writing short stories and novels, he also wrote columns for national newspapers. He wrote many programmes for radio and television, which were popular with listeners and viewers.

His most famous books include Urdu She’r Ki Dastan, Urdu Nasr ki Dastan (in which he compiled information on the works of Urdu prose writers), Mirza Ghalib, Dastango Ashfaq Ahmad and Mirza Ghalib Lahore Main.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2011.