The Way It Was Once : Faiz Ahmed Faiz: His Life,His Poems

Book excerpt: Twenty-five years after his death, the poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz continues to be as relevant as ever; in fact, the revolutionary and seductive appeal of his poetry has only increased with time. He is no longer just a Pakistani poet, nor just a poet from the Indian subcontinent, but belongs to the whole world. The year 2012 is Faiz’s hundredth birth anniversary, and on this occasion, this book is the fondest tribute that could have been put together - for it is from the poet’s family itself. The book has pictures from Faiz’s family album, a biography by his grandson, Ali Madeeh Hashmi, and translations of fifty-two of Faiz’s poems by noted Pakistani writer, Shoaib Hashmi. The book also has extracts from Faiz’s handwritten letters and poems, and clippings of his interviews. A collector’s delight!