Today marks Sadaat Hasan Manto’s 108th Birthday and Google celebrates it with a doodle designed by the talented Pakistani designer and illustrator Shehzil Malik.
Saadat Hasan Manto (Urdu: سعادت حسن) was a Pakistani writer, playwright and author born in the British India on the (11th of May, 1912) during an age of social unrest because of the partition of it. By his early twenties, he had published his own translations of European classics in the native Urdu language.
Writing mainly in the Urdu language, he produced 22 collections of short stories, a novel, five series of radio plays, three collections of essays and two collections of personal sketches. Manto soon progressed to writing original works such as Inqilab Pasand in 1935.
Manto was famous for his stories of Indian partition and his short stories. His content was bold and daring as he opened up about some societal truths that no one spoke about. His work was considered controversial as he defied the norms of the time.
The doodle was designed by Pakistani illustrator, Shehzil Malik, who took to Instagram and shared it. Alongside the doodle, she wrote a caption, which read, “Today is Saadat Hasan Manto’s 108th birthday and I was asked to draw the Google Doodle to commemorate the occasion.”
Talking about the late author, Malik penned on his Instagram “Manto is a hero to me, so this was a huge honour. Go find the artwork on the Google homepage- and if you haven’t read Manto, you need to get on that immediately!”