By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
The Urdu Academy of North America dedicated it September 24, 2017 monthly session to the life and work of popular poetess Noshi Gilani who had lived in California in 1990s.
Poet Arshad Rashid, a senior member of the Urdu Academy was MC of the literary event, held at the Chandni Restaurant, Newark CA.
Mohammad Ali Naqvi, Founder Chairman of Sadeqain Memorial Trust, New Delhi, India. Pardeep Joshi was guest of honor.
The main feature of the literary event was a 20 minutes talk by Tashie Zaheer, President of the Urdu Academy of North America who recalled his personal acquaintance and friendship with Noshi Gilani.
As usual, a number of Urdu enthusiasts recited Noshi Gilani's poetry: Muckesh Kackar, Mehboob Alam, Sarwat Iqbal, Irfan Siddiqui, Zafar Yousefzai, Zeeshan Abbasi and Moniba Zeeshan.
Dr. Anshuman Chandra amused the audience with singing ghazals of Noshi Gilani on guitar.
Noshi Gilani was born in Bahawalpur, Pakistan on March 14, 1964. She studied at Bahawalpur University. She settled in San Francisco, USA in 1995. She moved to Australia after her marriage to Saeed Khan an Australian-based Urdu poet in 2008. The couple lives in Sydney, Australia.
Her experience of living in US shows a notable impact on her significant number of poems. Living through Diaspora has increased the complexity of her poems and reinforced her sense of female identity and introduced a new revolution against restraint creative writers in Pakistani society.
In 2008, her some poetry work was translated into English and her poems were read in the UK, with the Poetry Translation Centre's World Poets' Tour. Gilani is also credited with co-translating the great Australian poet Les Murray into Urdu language. 
These works were published in Tasteer Literary magazine in Islamabad in its December 2011 edition. She hosted a tribute to folk singer Pathanay Khan, sponsored by the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA).
Gilani co-founded the Urdu Academy of Australia (Sydney) in 2009. The Academy organises monthly sittings in Sydney to promote Urdu Poetry and literature.,
Her new book of poetry Hawa Chupke se Kehti Hai (The Breeze Whispers) was published in June 2011 in Lahore, Pakistan. The new book received such a warm response that its first edition was reported sold out within 2 hours of its arrival in Urdu Bazar. The book has created a great buzz and interest among Urdu literati and readers since Gilani’s last poetry book was published in 2003.
Noshi Gilani's Works:
1. Mohabatain Jab Sumar Kurna (When you would count affections, 1993)
2. Udas Honay Kay Din Naheen (These are not the days of sadeness, 1997)
3. Pehla Lafz Mohabat Likha (The first word was written "Love", 2003)
4. Selected poems like Ay Meeray Shareek-E-Risal-E-Jaan,
5. Hum Tera Intezaar Kurtey Rahey (And I kept waiting you!) (2008).
6. Noshi Gillani poems, Enitharmon Press, (15 Sep 2008), translators: Lavinia Greenlaw; Nukhbah Langah.
At the end of literary event, Arshad Rashid thanked the audience for making the program successful. He particularly thanked entrepreneur Syed Sarwat for patronizing the Urdu language by hosting the Urdu Academy events pro bono.
