Islamabad: The celebrated Pakistani novelist, known for her iconic novel Ice Candy Man, which featured the India-Pakistan partition, Bapsi Sidhwa, died on Wednesday in Houston. Sidhwa, the pioneering novelist in South Asian literature, was 86 and survived by her three children, Mohur, Koko, and Parizad.
Her brother, Feroze Bhandara, announced that memorial ceremonies would be held over three days, followed by her last rites in Houston, PTI reported.
Known for her poignant writings, she made an impact on global literature. Her works are rich in historical and cultural context, which earned her a place among the most celebrated authors of her time.
Born on August 11, 1938, in Karachi to a prominent Parsi family, Sidhwa moved to Lahore shortly after her birth, where she spent much of her life. She contracted polio at the age of two, a challenge that shaped her resilience and outlook on life, the Pakistani daily Dawn reported.
Sidhwa graduated from Lahore's Kinnaird College in 1957 and began her career as a writer after her marriage and subsequent return to Pakistan.
She is regarded as one of Pakistan's most influential writers, with her works gaining global acclaim for their evocative depictions of history and culture.
Her novels, including The Crow Eaters (1978), The Bride (1982), An American Brat (1993), and City of Sin and Splendour: Writings on Lahore (2006), vividly portray the cultural and historical fabric of South Asia.
Her novel Ice Candy Man — later adapted into the critically acclaimed film Earth by Indian-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta — captured the horrors of the 1947 partition, a period Sidhwa personally witnessed as a child.
The story, featuring a polio-stricken young girl observing the chaos, mirrors Sidhwa's own childhood experiences. The novel was included in the BBC's list of 100 most influential novels.