Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah was born on 25 December 1918, in Calcutta, British India, which is now Kolkata, India. Her father was an avid Bengali and Indian nationalist and writer and as a result, her home became a meeting place for Bengali thinkers and philosophers. Influenced by the literary circle at her home, she began to write at a young age, using poetry as a way to express her thoughts and emotions. In 1936, when she was just 18 years old, her poem was published in Illustrated Weekly of India, a magazine she continued to contribute to until independence in 1947. At the age of 22, Begum Hamidullah married Khalifa Muhammad Hamidullah, moving with him the Punjab, Pakistand where he worked as an executive at Bata Shoe Company. In 1943, she published her first book of poetry, Indian Bouquet, which sold all copies in the first three months. After independence in 1947, Begum Hamidullah and her husband helped refugees to cross over into Pakistan while she continued to build her career, writing a column “Thru a Woman’s Eyes” published in the daily newspaper, Dawn. She would go on to expand the column, discussing all subjects, not just those ‘relating to women’, and eventually became a columnist on the editorial page of the Dawn, which made her the first female political commentator in Pakistan. After a fallout with her editor at Dawn, she started her own magazine, the Mirror, which became an instant success across Pakistan. In 1957, after publicly criticism the military regime of Iskander Mirza, the Mirror was banned for six months by the government before the Supreme Court intervened, ruling the ban unconstitutional. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Begum Hamidullah continued to be an outspoken critic of the authoritarian style of government in Pakistan, which made her a target of government criticism and bans on her publication. After her husband’s death in 1983, she became increasingly reclusive, living with her daughter and staying largely out of the public eye except for a few articles and new editions of her previous writings were shared. In 2000, on 10 September, Begum Hamidullah passed away.