Ahmad Faraz

Syed Ahmad Shah (; 14 January 1931 – 25 August 2008), better known by his pen name Ahmad Faraz, was a Pakistani Urdu poet, scriptwriter and became the founding director general (later chairman) of Pakistan Academy of Letters.

Early life and education Faraz was born Syed Ahmad Shah on 14 January 1931 in Kohat, NWFP, British India (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan), the son of Agha Syed Muhammad Shah Bark Kohati. He belonged to a Pashtun-Syed family. His father was a teacher who composed Persian poetry and the family spoke Hindko at home. His brother Masood Kausar has been the Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He studied at Edwardes College, Peshawar and received his Master's degree in Urdu and Persian from Peshawar University.

Singers such as Mehdi Hassan, Noor Jehan, Ghulam Ali, Pankaj Udhas, Jagjit Singh and Runa Laila greatly popularized his poetry by singing his ghazals in films and in live concerts.

Ahmad Faraz is included in the long list of revolutionary poets of Urdu language and is "acclaimed as one of the most influential modern Urdu poets of the last century."

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