Lucknow’s literary community is set to revisit the powerful legacy of Ismat Chughtai, one of Urdu literature’s most fearless and uncompromising voices, at a special literary evening on August 22, 2026.

Organised as part of Koshala Reading Renaissance, in association with Lucknow Museum of Heritage & Art (LMHA), the evening will commemorate Chughtai’s birth anniversary through readings, conversations and reflections on her enduring work.

Known for writing boldly about women’s lives, desire, class, domesticity and identity, Chughtai challenged the social and literary conventions of her time. Her celebrated work Lihaaf remains particularly significant for the controversy and conversations it sparked around women, sexuality and societal silence.

The event invites Lucknow’s readers and literature enthusiasts to look beyond Chughtai as a celebrated Urdu writer and discover the questions her work continues to raise—especially what happens when a woman chooses to speak when society expects her to remain silent.

Koshala Reading Renaissance: A Literary Evening – Ismat Chughtai will be held on August 22, from 5 PM to 7 PM at LMHA, Lucknow Museum of Heritage & Art.

For lovers of Urdu literature, literary heritage and thought-provoking conversations, it promises an evening of stories, memory and new perspectives—a fitting tribute to a writer who wrote what others wouldn’t.