Jaun Elia: The Rebel Poet of Despair and Wit
جون ایلیا
Updated
Jaun Elia (جون ایلیا, 1931–2002) was a poet, scholar and famously unconventional figure whose ghazals of heartbreak, irony and despair have found an enormous new audience since his death, especially among young readers online.
Life
Jaun Elia was born in Amroha, in north India, on 14 December 1931, into a family of scholars and poets. He learned Arabic, Persian and philosophy, and moved to Karachi in the 1950s. He worked as an editor and translator and edited the literary magazine Insha. He married the writer Zahida Hina; they later separated. He died in Karachi on 8 November 2002.
Poetry
Though famous at mushairas for decades, Jaun Elia did not publish a book until Shayad (Perhaps) appeared in 1991, when he was about sixty. Further collections, Yaani, Gumaan, Lekin and Goya, were published after his death. His ghazals mix classical form with a modern, conversational bitterness and wit. His poems are still under copyright, so we describe rather than quote them here.
Questions and answers
What was Jaun Elia's first book?
Shayad (Perhaps), published in 1991.
Where was Jaun Elia born?
In Amroha, in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India. He later lived in Karachi.
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