Parveen Shakir is widely considered to be the greatest Urdu female poet. She was born in Karachi - Pakistan on 24 November 1952 and started writing both prose and poetry at an early age, contributing columns to newspapers and articles to English dailies. Shakir published 5 books of poetry to great acclaim, the first being Khushbu [Fragrance] (1976), followed by Sad Barg [Marsh Marigold] (1980), Khud Kalami [Soliloquy], Inkar [Denial] (1990), and Kaf e Aina [The Mirrors Edge] besides a collection of her newspaper columns entitled Gosha e Chashm [The Sight Corner]. She died in a car accident on 26 December 1994, when her car collided with a bus while on her way to work. After Parveen Shakir is the first substantial selection of Shakirs work translated into English.