One of the most important voices in contemporary Indian poetry, Shahryar (1936 2012) cast a mesmeric spell with the publication of his very first collection, Ism-e Azam, in 1965. Over the next fifty years, he not only managed to remain topical, his poetry defining the times, he always seemed to have something to say that was timely and relevant without ever compromising on quality. Shahryar: A Life in Poetry is as much a study of a poet s life the father, friend, teacher and raconteur par excellence as it is an attempt to write the literary history of contemporary Urdu poetry. Tracing Shahryar s journey as a poet, Rakhshanda Jalil demonstrates how he evolved a set of symbols, images and metaphors that, while seemingly personal, transcended the self and the individual. She also evaluates his work in the light of the two major literary movements that shaped his poetic sensibility the Progressive Writers Movement and modernism while he consistently refused to belong to any one group. Including a selection of some of Shahryar s best poems ghazals, nazms and film lyrics brilliantly translated by the author, the book introduces his poetry to a new generation while evaluating Shahryar s considerable body of work in the trajectory of contemporary Indian writings and his extraordinary contribution to not merely modern Urdu poetry but, more significantly, modern Indian poetry.