Yasmeen Hameed has over thirty years of experience in the fields of education, literature and art. She was the Founder Director of the Gurmani Centre for South Asian Languages and Literature in the Social Sciences Department at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). She worked in LUMS from 2007 to August 2016.
Yasmeen Hameed has authored five books of poetry in Urdu. These are Pas-e Ᾱ’īnā (1988), Hisār-e Bē Dar-o-Dīvār (1991), Ādẖā Din Aur Ᾱdẖī Rāt (1996), Fanā Bẖī Ēk Sarāb (2001) and Bē Samar Pēṛoṅ Kī Kvāhish (2012). The first four books were collectively published under the title Dūsrī Zindagī (700 pages) in 2007. A selection of her poetry titled Hum Do Zamānon Mēn Paidā Hūē was published in 2018. Her book, Pakistani Urdu Verse (English…513 pages) was published by Oxford University Press in 2010. She has edited and translated this anthology of the Urdu nazm, introducing sixty-three Urdu poets of the post-Iqbal period. She has compiled and edited Daybreak: Writings on Faiz published by Oxford University Press in 2013. She has also compiled and edited Nayā Urdu Afsānā published by Sang-e Meel Publications in 2014.
Her poem was published in translation in Granta, 112 Pakistan from London, UK and five of her poems in translation are included in an anthology called Modern Poetry of Pakistan, published by Dalkey Archive Press, Champaign and London, USA. Her poems in translation were also published in Atlanta Review: Pakistan, Spring and Summer 2014. Fourteen of her poems with English translation were published in Three Contemporary Artists by Iffat Sayeed, published in 2019 by the University of Punjab, Lahore.
She was Guest Editor of Pakistani Literature (English), published by the Pakistan Academy of Letters, Islamabad and has edited seven volumes of the journal, including two volumes (590 pages) of a special issue on women writers from Pakistan. She was co-editor of Bunyād, research journal of Gurmani Centre at LUMS, She has extensively translated Urdu poetry into English. She has contributed to the column called Poetic Justice of the Books & Authors section of the daily Dawn, through which she introduced and translated forty two contemporary Urdu poets. She has also hosted music and literary programmes for Pakistan Television.
Her third collection of poetry was awarded the National Allama Mohammed Iqbal Award for the best book of poetry for the year 1996. Her fourth collection was awarded the Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi Award for the best book of poetry for the year 2001. Her book, Pakistani Urdu Verse was awarded the UBL/Jang Literary Excellence Award in 2012. In 2006, she received the Fatima Jinnah Medal for Literature by the Government of Punjab. In 2008, she was awarded the Tamgha-e Imtiaz for Literature by the Government of Pakistan.
Yasmeen Hameed has a Master’s degree in Nutrition for which she was awarded a gold medal in 1972 by the University of Punjab, Lahore. She also owns and has established The Lahore Alma (Junior/Senior School) in DHA, Lahore. The school was established in 1986. It now has a strength of over 800 students from Playgroup (age 3) to A-Levels. The school is registered with the University of Cambridge, UK. She is Director of the school.
Awards and Accomplishments
- Roll of Honour and Gold Medal from Punjab University, Lahore (1972)
- Third collection, National Allama Mohammed Iqbal Award for the best book of poetry (1996)
- Fourth Collection, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi Award for the best book of poetry (2001)
- Fatima Jinnah Medal for Literature by the Government of Punjab (2006)
- Tamgha-e Imtiaz for Literature by the Government of Pakistan (2008)
- Pakistani Urdu Verse, UBL/Jang Literary Excellence Award (2012)
Contact Information
Email
yasmeenhd@yahoo.com