At age 86, renowned writer Bapsi Sidhwa dies.

Internationally recognized author and literary legend Bapsi Sidhwa died on Wednesday in Houston, Texas. Her age was 86.

She was praised for her moving books and made a significant contribution to world literature.

The literary world, Pakistan, India, and the Zoroastrian community around the world all mourn her departure.

Most famous for her collaborations with Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, Sidhwa wrote Ice Candy Man (1991), which served as the basis for the highly regarded movie Earth (1998). Additionally, she wrote Water: A Novel (2006), which was the basis for Mehta’s Academy Award-nominated 2005 film Water.

She is regarded as one of the most renowned writers of her era because of her works, which are full of historical and cultural context.

Bapsi: Silences of My Life, a documentary about her life, was published by the Citizens Archive of Pakistan in October 2022. It provides insight into her writing career and her experiences during India’s partition, which had a significant impact on her creative vision.

Bapsi Sidhwa was raised in Lahore after being born in Karachi to Zoroastrian (Parsi) parents. When she was two years old, she got polio, a hardship that influenced her fortitude and perspective on life.

Writing was influenced by Partition: After graduating from Kinnaird College in Lahore in 1957, Sidhwa started writing after getting married and moving back to Pakistan. Her novels, such as The Crow Eaters (1978), The Bride (1982), An American Brat (1993), and City of Sin and Splendour: Writings on Lahore (2006), vividly depict the cultural and historical fabric of South Asia.

She received numerous honors, including the Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 1991, Pakistan’s highest national honor in the arts, and the Mondello Prize for Foreign Authors in 2007.

As an international literary ambassador for the community, she was honored into the Zoroastrian Hall of Fame.

In recognition of her legacy as the first internationally renowned Zoroastrian writer, the Bapsi Sidhwa Literary Prize was established, sponsored by the Zoroastrian Association of Houston and the FEZANA Information Research Education System.

Sidhwa was renowned for her warmth and generosity in addition to her writing accomplishments. In the 1970s, Sidhwa provided her garage as a painting studio, a gesture that helped establish an artistic career, as a close friend and former neighbor in Lahore recounted with fondness.

The loss of Sidhwa creates a permanent hole in the literary and intellectual community. Her exceptional impact is still evident in her work, which is distinguished by its depth, sensitivity, and cultural variety.

Her three children, Mohur, Koko, and Parizad, as well as her novels, survive her. At Houston’s Bhandara Agiary, which bears the name of Tehmina Bhandara, the mother of Bapsi, Feroze, and Minocher Bhandara, a well-known Pakistani politician and businesswoman, prayers will be said for her departed soul.