Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia
About Zurinah Hassan
- Zurinah Hassan (born 13 June 1949) is a Malaysian national laureate.
- She is the first female writer to be conferred the title National Laureate which in Malaysia is officially known as Sasterawan Negara.
- Zurinah Hassan was born in Alor Setar, Kedah.
- She studied at the Universiti Sains Malaysia for the first degree.
- After working for fifteen years, she took an early retirement to devote her time writing.
- Besides writing she also pursued a Master's degree at Universiti Putra Malaysia and later a PhD degree at University of Malaya.
- In 1974, Hassan authored Sesayup Jalan, and subsequently published poems, short stories and novels, some of which were translated into French, Spanish, and Russian.
- She won the Putera Poetry Award in 1984.
- She is best known for works such as Facing the Harbour, Memorizing Zurinah Hassan: Tracking Poetry, Decisions, Dawai Dawai and From Mount Jerai to Pekan Rabu.
- In 2013 she became the first Malaysian Sunthorn Phu Poet Laureate when she won the ASEAN Poetry Award.
- In 2015 she was the first female writer to be awarded the National Literary Award of Malaysia during the 13th National Literary Awards, given by the Ministry of Education.
- She received M60,000 in cash and a sponsorship of RM500,000 to publish 50,000 copies of her works to distribute to libraries, schools and agencies.
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