Kanza Javed (

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

: کنزا جاويد) is a Pakistani author and poet, best known for her novel, ''Ashes, Wine and Dust'' and various short stories.

Early life and education

Kanza Javed was born in

Lahore, Pakistan Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Punjab. It is the second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and 27th largest in the world, with a population of over 14 million. Lahore is one of Pakistan ...

. She received an MFA in Fiction from

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

, where she won the late Rebecca Mason Perry Award. She was a short-term fellow at

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the Public university, public university system of the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes six campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, University of Massachusetts Lowell ...

and a research scholar at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

; both grants were funded by the .

Career

Javed published her debut book, ''Ashes, Wine and Dust'', in 2015. The novel was shortlisted for the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize. Javed started writing the book when she was 17, and was the first Pakistani and, as of 2020, the youngest writer to be nominated for the award. She had intended to release her book at the Indian Kumaon Literary festival, but was temporarily denied a visa, and released it via

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

in cooperation with the festival instead. Javed later released the book at the Jaipur Literary Festival. Her short story, ''It Will Follow You Home'', was published in

American Literary Review The ''American Literary Review'' is an American national biannual literary magazine of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Since its Fall 2013 issue, ''ALR'' has been an online digital publication. Print publications are cataloged under . Hist ...

(2020). Her short story, ''Carry It All'' was published in The Punch Magazine (2020). Her short story, ''Rani'', won the 2020 International Literary Awards (The Reynolds Price Prize for Short Fiction) and was a finalist at Salamander Fiction Contest 2020. Her work was also selected as a finalist for The 51st New Millennium Award for Fiction (2021) and The Robert Watson Literary Prize 2021 (Greensboro Review Literary Awards). Her second book, "What Remains After a Fire" was short-listed for the 2022 Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Awards. Javed was nominated as a Pakistan Super League's Hamaray Heroes 2023 and was presented with an award for her contribution in the field of Pakistani Literature at the final match.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Javed, Kanza Living people 21st-century Pakistani women writers 21st-century Pakistani poets Pakistani women poets Pakistani women novelists Writers from Lahore Kinnaird College for Women University alumni Writers from West Virginia Novelists from West Virginia West Virginia University alumni 21st-century Pakistani novelists Year of birth missing (living people)