Zehra Nigah

Personal life

Zehra was born in Hyderabad, British India. She was 10 years old when she and her family migrated to Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India. Her father was a civil servant with an interest in poetry. Zehra's elder sister, Fatima Surayya Bajia, was also a writer. One of her brothers, Anwar Maqsood, is a writer, satirist and a television host and another brother, Ahmad Maqsood was Secretary to the Government of Sindh. Zehra married Majid Ali, who was a civil servant and had interest in Sufi poetry.

Career Zehra Nigah began her writing career during her childhood. When she was 14 years old, she learned the poetry of prominent poets by heart. She is inspired by classical tradition of Urdu poetry.

Front Line magazine states:

Around 1922, the living room in Zehra's family home used to serve as the centre stage for historic meetings of poets of the stature of Iqbal, Firaq, Makhdoom, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Majaz. "Academics, poetry and music completed my home", she says, adding, "My mother used to learn music from her ustaad [teacher] from behind a purdah. My maternal grandfather used to encourage us children to revise tough poets like Haali and Iqbal with correct meanings, pronunciations and reading style. He would tempt us by saying, 'If you memorise Iqbal's Jawab-e-Shikwa or Musaddas-e-Hali, you will get five rupees.' And we would wield all our energies to memorise them. Such was my training that at four I had learnt the correct recitation style and pronunciation and by the time I was 14, I had learnt the masterpieces of most big poets by heart. She was later awarded the Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Pakistan's second-highest civilian honor) under her official registered name, Zahra Majid Ali, by President Asif Ali Zardari on 13 May 2026. According to a major newspaper of India, "Zehra Nigah is a much loved and highly respected poet in Pakistan."

Honours

Speaker, Special Lecture Series of Aga Khan University 2013 Chief Guest, Convocation of IVS 2014 Chair, launch of Shaam-e-Sher-e-Yaaran by Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi 2014 Chair, launch of Digital Poetry Collection of Dr. Pirzada Qasim 2014 Keynote Speaker, Islamabad Literature Festival 2014 Keynote Speaker, Karachi Literature Festival 2015 Keynote Speaker, Islamabad Literature Festival 2015 Member Presidium Panel, Launch of Arzu Center at Habib University 2015

Publications Shaam Ka Pehla Tara Waraq Firaaq Gul Chandni