ISLAMABAD-
The renowned Urdu poet, philosopher, biographer and scholar Jaun Elia’s 12th death anniversary was observed on November 8.
Jaun Elia was born on December 14, 1931 in an illustrious family of Amroha, Uttar Pradesh (India). He was the youngest of his siblings.
His father, Allama Shafiq Hasan Elia, was deeply involved in art and literature and also an astrologer and a poet. This literary environment modeled him along the same lines, and he wrote his first Urdu couplet when he was just 8.
Before long, he became popular in the literary circles of Karachi. His poetry, which bears ample testimony to his wide-ranging reading habits, won him acclaim and approbation.
Elia migrated to Pakistan in 1957, and made Karachi his home. He was widely praised for his unique style of writing. He was a prolific writer, but could not be convinced to publish his work.
His first poetry collection Shayad (an Urdu word which means “Maybe”) was published in 1991, when he was 60.
The second collection of his poetry Ya’ani was published posthumously in 2003. Afterwards Jaun’s trustworthy companion Khalid Ansari has compiled and published his three consecutive collections, “Gumaan” (an Urdu word which means “Illusion”) in 2004, “Lekin” 2006 and “Goya” 2008.
He died after a protracted illness on November 8, 2002 in Karachi.