QURRATULAIN HYDER (1926-2007) is regarded as the most celebrated woman writer of the Subcontinent. Her published works include six novels, many novellas, and several collections of short stories, literary criticism, and translations into Urdu of such writers as Henry James, T.S. Eliot, and Truman Capote. In 1968 the Sahitya Akademi awarded her a prize for her collection of short stories Patjhar ki Avaz (The Sound of Falling Leaves). Her controversial voluminous novel Aag ka Darya -- which was specially mentioned by the Nobel Laureate J.M.G. Le Clezio as among his favorite works -- has been translated into fifteen Indian languages, along with an English translation, River of Fire, by the author. She was one of the editors of Imprint magazine, Mumbai, and later worked for many years as a member of the editorial staff of the Illustrated Weekly of India. She traveled widely and in 1979-80 was writer-in-residence for the International Writers Program of the University of Iowa. She received the Jnanpith Award in 1989 and was given the Padmi Shri by the Government of India for her outstanding contribution to Urdu literature.