Lifting the Veil

Enlightened, bold, iconoclastic, progressive and feminist… Chughtai’s style makes reading a delight * Dawn *One of the foremost Urdu writers of the 20th century, Ismat Chughtai is known for her iconoclastic, feminist writings which explored the inner workings of women’s lives * Huffington Post *Her marvellous skill with language and storytelling has resulted in the creation of some of the most powerful women characters in world literature * The Hindu *Gloriously provocative… female sexuality within a patriarchal world is Chughtai’s central concern – Kamila Shamsie, from the introductionChughtai’s prose is supple, energetic, argumentative, funny, caustic, and colloquial. But what really distinguishes her from her peers is a bluntness that is often brutal, and a sarcasm that is always biting. This is high-voltage writing, it can be as vituperative as it is incisive, as polemical as it is profound. * India Today *Ismat Chughtai’s work had a seminal impact on me… [her] rebellious life I carry about with me like a talisman – Kishwar Desai, author of ‘Origins of Love’A writer who was constantly challenging accepted notions of morality and urging her readers to examine a woman’s place in society * Indian Express *

Ismat Chughtai was Urdu’s most courageous and controversial woman writer of the twentieth century. She was the first Indian Muslim woman to earn both a bachelor of arts and a bachelor’s in education degree. She began writing in secret due to violent opposition from her family, and many of her works were banned for their fiercely feminist content. Her most celebrated short story, The Quilt, was brought to court on charges of obscenity for its suggestion of homosexuality. Ismat Chughtai refused the court’s request to apologize for the story, and eventually won the case. She died in 1991.

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