1) Awakening is a unique book because it looks at the freedom movement and its key landmarks through the prism of Urdu literature. 2) This English translation It is originally written in Urdu by Gopi Chand Narang, author of numerous pathbreaking scholarly books. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of English Literature, Modern Indian history and South Asian Studies across UK.

1) Awakening is a unique book because it looks at the freedom movement and its key landmarks through the prism of Urdu literature. 2) This English translation It is originally written in Urdu by Gopi Chand Narang, author of numerous pathbreaking scholarly books. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of English Literature, Modern Indian history and South Asian Studies across UK.

Rajinder Singh Bedi: Selected Short Stories curates some of the best work by the Urdu writer, whose contribution to Urdu fiction makes him a pivotal force within modern Indian literature. Born in Sialkot, Punjab, Rajinder Singh Bedi (1915-1984) lived many lives-as a student and postmaster in Lahore, a venerated screenwriter for popular Hindi films and a winner of both the Sahitya Akademi as well as the Filmfare awards. Considered one of the prominent progressive writers of modern Urdu fiction, Bedi was an architect of contemporary Urdu writing along with leading lights such as Munshi Premchand and Saadat Hasan Manto. Written between 1940 and 1975, the fifteen short stories included in this collection comprise favorites like 'Garam Coat' (Woollen Coat), 'Lajwanti', 'Apne Dukh Mujhe De Do' (Give Me Your Sorrows), 'Rahman ke Joote' (Rahman's Shoes) and others. Bedi's stories dissect human emotions with grim precision as he navigates the everyday lives of men and women, exposing social inequities and economic problems.

One of contemporary India's most prolific Urdu poets, Firaq Gorakhpuri was well known for his ghazals, nazms, rubaais and qat'aa. His magnum opus, Gul-e-Naghma, won him the Jnanpith Award (1969), India's first highest literary honour for literature. The other awards bestowed upon him include the Sahitya Akademi Award (1960), and the Ghalib Academy Award (1981). In this personalized biography, Firaq's nephew, Ajai Mansingh, tells the compelling tale of the poet's life, inspiration, and struggles - shedding light on the trials and tribulations of one of India's greatest literary figures. 'Firaq is a poet of the labyrinths of emotions, the sensuousness and transcendence of beauty, and the merging shades of pain and ecstasy. The softness and suppleness of his voice does not have a parallel in Urdu poetry.' - Gopi Chand Narang