Young woman writer from Quetta wins NCSW Literary Award

Islamabad: Young woman writer from Quetta Javeria Khan Marri received National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) Literary Award 2018 at an event organised by the Commission to announce its Literary Award programme on Monday.

On this occasion, the Commission also announced that advertisements for submission of entries for NCSW Award 2019 would soon be published in the newspapers. The event was addressed by NCSW Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz, eminent writer Kishwar Naheed, Member NCSW from Sindh Kausar S Khan, Member NCSW from Balochistan Sana Durrani and winner of NCSW Literary Award 2018 Javeria Khan Marri.

The purpose of the Award, one in Urdu and one in regional language fiction, is to encourage and promote Pakistani women writers. The winners will get a monetary prize and their work will be published by the NCSW.

For NCSW Literary Award 2018, the NCSW called for the submissions for original unpublished work of Pakistani women writers of up to 35 years of age. The call was made through newspaper advertisements in January 2018. Women writers from across the country were asked to submit under the categories of short stories, poetry or novel in Urdu or any regional language.

In response to the call, NCSW received 19 pieces of work. All submissions were thoroughly reviewed by a committee of judges appointed by the Commission which included famous writer Kishwar Naheed, writer and journalist (Salma Baluch), Amar Sindhu, writer Dr. Asif Aslam Farrukhi, and Member NCSW Kausar S. Khan.

Speaking on this occasion, NCSW Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz talked about the importance of promoting women writers for the larger purpose of women empowerment. She said that due to lack of platforms and financial resources, women writers fail to publish or promote their work.