Presented by Majlise Fakhare Bahrain, the unique event is named Aalami Mushaira (Kavi Sammelan) Bayaad e Khaleel-Ur-Rehman Azmi.
The event, at 8pm, will celebrate Urdu’s inimitable beauty, soul-stirring lyrical magnificence and its splendour with the objective of promoting and disseminating Urdu literature, especially Urdu poetry.
Mr Azmi was an outstanding poet and literary critic who was born in Seda Sultanpur, India in 1927 and died in 1978.
He matriculated from Shibli National High School in Azamgarh in 1945, gained his Bachelor’s degree in 1948 and Master’s in Urdu from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
During this period, he tutored the British scholar of Urdu, Ralph Russell.
He gained his Doctor of Philosophy in Urdu in 1957 from AMU.
In 1952, he became a lecturer in the university’s Urdu department.
Four years later he became a reader and continued in that role until his death from leukaemia in 1978.
Mr Azmi was posthumously elevated to the rank of professor.
During his early school days, he began writing and composed poems for Payami Taleem, a children’s literary magazine.
Modernism
Proficient in both prose and poetry, he was one of the pioneers of modernism in Urdu and also aligned with the Progressive Writers Movement and received the Ghalib Award for Urdu Poetry in 1978.
The poetry evening aims to treasure Mr Azmi’s heritage and pay tribute to a gem of Urdu literature.
It also aspires to engage, enlighten and entertain audiences from diverse backgrounds, both Urdu and non-Urdu speaking, in a vibrant, participative and festive ambience.
Majlise Fakhare Bahrain enjoys the unique honour of presenting the poetic diction and personality of four great Urdu poets, Shahryar, Raghupati Sahai Firaq Gorakhpuri, Irfan Siddiqui and Anand Narayan Mulla.
A book, Khalil-Ur-Rahman Azmi Aik Bazyaaft, will be launched at the event.
Entry is free and guests are invited to see well-known poets from the sub-continent join hands in paying tributes to Mr Azmi.