Parveen Talha

Parveen Talha, a career bureaucrat in the Indian Revenue Service, retired as a constitutional authority, having served as a Member of the Union Public Service Commission. Following her retirement she published two short-story collections, FidaeLucknow (2013) and A Word Thrice Uttered (2017), both to wide acclaim. 

Described by Khushwant Singh in the Hindustan Times as ‘a true insider’s account’, Fida-e-Lucknow was translated into Urdu and Hindi, with the Urdu translation receiving the Sahitya Akademi Award for Translation in 2020. 

Parveen Talha has also written for filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, contributing story and dialogues for the television serial Husn-e-Jana and providing the source story for his digital film The Shawl. 

She received the President’s Certificate for ‘Specially Distinguished Record of Service’ in 2000 and was awarded the Padma Shri in 2014.