Anwari Begum
Tyaba Begum Bilgrami
Edited and Translated by Aamer Hussein

First written in 1905 and serialised a few years later, Anwari Begum is one of the most accomplished early twentieth century works of Urdu fiction by a woman writer. The author, remembered today for her contribution to the cause of Muslim women, was the contemporary of other activist-novelists such as Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and Sughra Humayun Mirza, but her work has a delicacy and technical skill not found in their work.

Tyaba Begum Bilgrami uses the secluded interiors of aristocratic homes in the princely state of Hyderabad at the turn of the last century, to examine the changing mores of Indian Muslim society as it opened up to Western and colonial influences, but also to the liberal reforms suggested by enlightened Indian thinkers. Her story of love, marriages and death in one family not only vividly captures the aristocratic Hyderabad, it also anticipates the impact of modernity on an old culture.

Aamer Hussein was born in Karachi in 1955, and moved to England in 1970.
He has a degree from SOAS in Urdu, Persian and Modern South Asian History. Best known for his volumes of short stories, which include The Blue Direction and Cactus Town, he has also translated fiction, including the work of Hijab Imtiaz Ali, from Urdu. Aamer Hussein is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and is at present a research fellow and lecturer at the Institute of English Studies, University of London.