About
Sheen Kaaf Nizam, born Shiv Kishan Bissa in 1945 in Jodhpur, is one of the most venerable Urdu poets and literary scholars in India. A Pushkarna Brahmin whose work blended seamlessly into the Urdu tradition, he took his pen name from the initials S and K (Sheen and Kaaf). In January 2025 he was honoured with the Padma Shri, and his 2010 collection Gumshuda Dair ki Gunjti Ghantiyan won the Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu.
A post-modern poet admired for a simple, direct idiom, Nizam has published collections including Lamhon Ki Saleeb, Dasht Mein Dariya, Naad and Saya Koi Lamba Na Tha. As a scholar he has edited the classics of Ghalib and Mir in Devanagari, building a bridge between Hindi and Urdu readers, and has conducted extensive research on Mir Taqi Mir and Mirza Ghalib. His verse graces mushairas across India and abroad, and his honours include the Iqbal Samman.
The artistry
Nizam writes in a spare, direct idiom that follows the meters of the Urdu ghazal while reaching a post-modern sensibility, looking straight into the bitterness of life with disarming simplicity. His deep scholarship in Persian and Urdu underpins his verse.
Nizam is a national-honour Urdu poet whose recitation or in-conversation anchors any serious literary programme, with the added dimension of his Ghalib and Mir scholarship. A marquee booking for Urdu-heritage and academic settings. [Atlas Assessment]
A bridge between Hindi and Urdu literary traditions and one of the most respected living Urdu poet-scholars.