Sughra Humayun Mirza

Sughra Humayun Mirza (1884 – 1958), also known as Begum Sughra, was a social reformer, Urdu writer and traveller from Hyderabad, India. She is known as one of the founding figures of women's writing in Urdu and believed to be Hyderabad's first female novelist, having written 14 major novels.

Early life and education Mirza was born in December 1884 in the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad, India. She came from an educated, migrant, Shia Muslim family who had settled in Hyderabad and served the state. Her grandfather was from Turkey, and her maternal family was from Iran. including Mohini (1929), Zohra (1911), Bibi Turi ka Khwab (Turi's Dream), Awaz-e-Ghaib (Voice from the Unknown), Sarguzisht-e-Hajira (1926) and Safina-e-Najat (The Barge of Liberation). She wrote poetry under the pen name 'Haya'.

In 1934, she started another magazine called Zaib-un-Nisa after moving to Lahore which ran through the 1930s and 1940s.

Beyond her work in education and social reform, she contributed to nationalist efforts by promoting communal harmony through her writings and advocating for the use of swadeshi goods.

Death Mirza died in 1958. She is buried along with her husband in a tomb next to Safdariya Girls High School which she had established.