Ada Jafri is a name every reader of Urdu poetry comes across sooner or later. She was the first major female Urdu poet to be published, and she was called “The First Lady of Urdu Poetry” as early as 1950. This ada jafri books guide looks at her books — her poetry collections, essays, autobiography and haiku — so a new reader can find where to begin. One thing should be said plainly at the start: Ada Jafri was a poet and an author, not a novelist. The ada jafri books in this guide contain no novels. What they offer instead is poetry written across more than six decades, by a voice that opened a door for every woman poet who came after her.
A life in brief
Ada Jafri was born Aziz Jahan on 22 August 1924 in Badayun, in what was then the United Provinces of British India. Her father, Maulvi Badrul Hasan, died when she was three, and her mother raised her. She began composing poetry at twelve, under the pen name Ada Badayuni, after her home town, and her early work was guided by the poets Akhtar Sheerani and Jafar Ali Khan Asar Lakhnavi.
On 29 January 1947 she married Nurul Hasan Jafri in Lucknow, and after her marriage she took the name Ada Jafarey — the spelling this guide shortens to Ada Jafri, the form most readers know. After Partition in 1947 the couple moved to Karachi, which remained her home for the rest of her life. Her husband died on 3 December 1995; she died in Karachi on 12 March 2015, aged ninety.
She wrote in a society where women were not expected to express themselves independently, and she did so for seventy years: her writing career is usually dated from 1945 to 2015. She was recognised as the first lady of Urdu poetry while still in her twenties, and the title stayed with her for life.
Main Saz Dhundti Rahi (1950)
Her first poetry collection, Main Saz Dhundti Rahi, appeared in 1950. The title means, roughly, “I kept looking for the instrument”. It is the natural starting point: a young poet finding her range, ghazal above all but also nazm. The collection established her, and within the year she was already recognised as the first lady of Urdu poetry.
Shahr-e-Dard (1967)
Seventeen years passed before her second collection, Shahr-e-Dard — “The City of Pain” — appeared in 1967. The gap is worth noting: this was not a poet in a hurry. Shahr-e-Dard won the Adamjee Literary Award in 1967 and is usually named, with the first collection, as one of her two notable works. Where the first book is a young poet finding her voice, this is a mature poet writing about pain and endurance with a steadiness readers have returned to ever since.
Ghazalan Tum to Waqif Ho
Ghazalan Tum to Waqif Ho — “Ghazals, You Know Them Well” — is one of the five collections that followed her first book. It is a ghazal collection through and through, speaking directly to the reader in the shared language of the ghazal tradition. No publication year is stated in the sources consulted, so none is given here.
Harf-e-Shanasai
Harf-e-Shanasai — “The Word of Acquaintance” — continues the same project. The title suggests recognition: words that know the reader, and a reader who knows the words. No publication year is stated in the sources consulted.
Safar Baqi
Safar Baqi — “The Journey Remains” — is another later collection, and its title has a second life: a collection called Safar Baqi Hai appears in her Kulliyat, her complete poetical works. Best read once you know the earlier collections.
Mausam Mausam
Mausam Mausam — “Season by Season” — is the last of the five later collections named in the sources. Its subject is time itself: what changes, what returns, what endures. No publication year is stated in the sources consulted.
Ghazal Numa, the autobiography, haiku and Kulliyat
Ada Jafri’s books are not only poetry. Ghazal Numa (1987) is short essays with short biographies and brief commentaries on earlier Urdu poets. Her autobiography, Jo Rahi So Bekhabari Rahi — “What Remained Was Unknowing” — is her own account of her life: Badayun, her mother’s upbringing, her marriage, Karachi, and a writing life inside a conservative society. She also published a collection of Urdu haiku, Saz-e-Sukhan Bahana Hai, a reminder that her range went beyond ghazal and nazm into a very different, very brief form. Her Kulliyat gathers her poetical works together and adds a new collection, Safar Baqi Hai.
Style and themes
Her work is mostly ghazal, but she also wrote nazm, experimented with azad nazm (free verse) and wrote Urdu haiku, and she is described as having mastered both nazm and ghazal. In her ghazals she used the pen name Ada. Critics describe her style as polite and restrained.
Her themes are documented rather than guessed at. She wrote largely in a gender-neutral mode, but her work includes feminist themes: discrimination against women, the dehumanisation of women, and women being viewed as sexual objects. She said she did not accept the restrictions imposed by men, only those her own mind imposed on her, and preferred to say things from behind a veil, because symbolism and allusion are part of the beauty of poetry. Her restraint was a choice, not a limitation.
One ghazal became widely known beyond the page: “Honton pe kabhi un ke mera naam hi aaye” was sung and popularised by Ustad Amanat Ali Khan.
Where to start reading
Start with Main Saz Dhundti Rahi (1950), where her voice first appears, then Shahr-e-Dard (1967), the award-winning second collection. Those two books give a reader the core of Ada Jafri. Then read her autobiography, Jo Rahi So Bekhabari Rahi, for the life behind the poems. After that, take the later collections in any order — Ghazalan Tum to Waqif Ho, Harf-e-Shanasai, Safar Baqi and Mausam Mausam — since they are variations on one voice rather than stages of a new one. Add Ghazal Numa (1987) if you enjoy criticism.
Readers who enjoyed this guide may also like the other books guides on this site. The Parveen Shakir books guide covers a later woman poet whose ghazals are more openly personal, and the Kishwar Naheed books guide covers a poet whose feminist voice is more direct — both contrast usefully with Ada Jafri’s restraint. The comparative Partition guide shows how four novels treat Partition differently, the background to her move from Lucknow to Karachi.
Awards and recognition
Her honours came steadily over five decades. In 1955 the Hamdard Foundation in New Delhi recognised her as the “Outstanding Female Poet of the Century”. In 1967 she received the Adamjee Literary Award from the Pakistan Writers’ Guild for Shahr-e-Dard. In 1981 the Government of Pakistan awarded her the Medal of Excellence — an honour some sources call the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz; see below. In 1994 she received the Baba-e-Urdu Dr Maulvi Abdul Haq Award from the Pakistan Academy of Letters, and in 1997 the Quaid-e-Azam Literary Award. The Government of Pakistan conferred the Pride of Performance for Literature on her — announced on 14 August 2002, conferred in 2003. In 2003 she also received the Kamal-e-Fun Award for lifetime achievement from the Pakistan Academy of Letters, the first woman to receive it since the prize was established in 1997.
Dates and details that differ across sources
A reader who looks her up in more than one place will find details that do not agree. Her birth year is given as 1924 by Wikipedia, Rekhta and most sources, and this guide uses 22 August 1924; a small number of weaker sources give 1926. Her first ghazal’s publication year is given as 1945 by Wikipedia and 1954 by Rekhta, both in Akhtar Sheerani’s magazine Roman (Rooman). Her Pride of Performance was announced on 14 August 2002 and conferred in 2003, so either year describes a different stage of the same award. Her 1981 honour is called the Medal of Excellence by Wikipedia’s awards section but the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by other sources, and Wikipedia’s own infobox carries the post-nominal TI. Her Adamjee Literary Award is dated 1967 by Wikipedia and most sources, for Shahr-e-Dard, but a Pakistan Press Foundation report sourced from Dawn gives 1965; this guide uses 1967 and records the variant here.
Frequently asked questions
Was Ada Jafri a novelist?
No. She was a poet and an author. Her books are poetry collections, essays on earlier poets, an autobiography and a haiku collection. This guide is a books guide rather than a novels guide for exactly that reason.
Why is Ada Jafri called the first lady of Urdu poetry?
She is regarded as the first major female Urdu poet to be published, recognised by that title as early as 1950, the year her first collection appeared.
What was Ada Jafri’s first book?
Her first poetry collection was Main Saz Dhundti Rahi, published in 1950. Her first ghazal had been published earlier in Akhtar Sheerani’s magazine Roman, though sources disagree on whether that was in 1945 or 1954.
Which Ada Jafri book should I read first?
Start with Main Saz Dhundti Rahi (1950), then Shahr-e-Dard (1967), the collection that won the Adamjee Literary Award. After those two, read her autobiography, Jo Rahi So Bekhabari Rahi, and then the later collections in any order.
What is Ada Jafri’s most famous ghazal?
“Honton pe kabhi un ke mera naam hi aaye”, which was sung and popularised by Ustad Amanat Ali Khan. It is the ghazal most often associated with her name.
What awards did Ada Jafri win?
The main ones are the Adamjee Literary Award (1967), the Medal of Excellence (1981), the Baba-e-Urdu Dr Maulvi Abdul Haq Award (1994), the Quaid-e-Azam Literary Award (1997), the Pride of Performance (announced 2002, conferred 2003) and the Kamal-e-Fun Award (2003), when she became the first woman to receive that lifetime-achievement award.
Closing
Ada Jafri’s importance is easy to state and hard to overstate. She was the first major woman poet to be published in Urdu, she wrote for seventy years, and she did it in a society that did not expect women to speak for themselves. Her books add up to a body of work that is restrained, dignified and still readable. A new reader who starts with Main Saz Dhundti Rahi and Shahr-e-Dard will have met the essential Ada Jafri, and the rest of her books will be waiting.
Research date: November 9, 2026.
Additional Details
- Name: Ada Jafri Books: A Reader’s Guide
- Description: Ada Jafri books guide: her poetry collections, life, awards and where to start reading the first lady of Urdu poetry.
- Published: 2026-11-09T11:12:00+05:00