Born with an impeccable literacy lineage - her father was Sajjad Hyder Yildirim and her mother Nazar-e Sajjad Hyder, both early and vigorous proponents of Urdu fiction -Quarratulain Hyder wrote her first story at the age of 12. Her first collection of short stories, Sitnron se Aage, published in 1945, established two singular qualities about this rising star on the Urdu firmament: one, her steadfast refusal to write only on 'womanly' subjects; and two, her ability to consistently produce polished, lyrical prose at a time when poetry held sway. Over the years, she produced a formidable array of travelogues, translations, novels, plays novelettes and short story collections.