Gopi Chand Narang is a major Urdu critic, theorist, and linguist. He has the distinction of being recognized by the Presidents of both India and Pakistan. A writer, literary critic and scholar, Prof. Narang is unique in holding this record. He was awarded the prestigous Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) by the Government of Pakistan and Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri by the Government of India.

His works have brought him several other laurels also, some of which include the Mazzini Gold Medal from Italy, Amir Khusro Award from Chicago, Ghalib Award, the Canadian Academy of Urdu Language and Literature Award, and the European Urdu Writers Society Award. The Sahitya Akademi conferred on him its prestigious Fellowship in 2009. Narang has also authored books in Hindi and English. Some of his most famous books are Sakhtiyaat Pas-e-Sakhtiyaat, Urdu Ghazal Aur Hindustani Zehn o Tehzeeb, Urdu Ki Taleem Ke Lisaniyati Pehlu, and Urdu Language and Literature: Critical Perspectives etc. A strong advocate of Urdu, he rues the fact that this language has been a victim of politicization as he believes that Urdu has its roots in India and is a sister language of Hindi.

Prof. Khalid Mahmood was born on January 15, 1948 in Saronj district of Madhya Pradesh. His father's name was Ahmad Shah Khan and his mother's name was Sultan Jahan Begum. He received his early education at Riyadh Madrasa, Saronj. After passing the Higher Secondary Examination, he came to Bhopal where he passed BA from Hamidia Government College and B.Ed and MA (Urdu) examinations from Saifia College. In 1976, he was first appointed as PGT (Urdu) in Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi Higher Secondary School. In 1989, he did his PhD from the Department of Urdu, Jamia Millia Islamia, under the supervision of Prof. Muzaffar Hanafi on the subject of “Research and Critical Study of Urdu Travelogues”. and joined the department in 1991 as an assistant professor. He became an Associate Professor in 1998 and became a Professor in 2006. He held the post of President of the Department of Urdu from 2010 to 2013. 2013 was the last year of his service but owning to superb performance, he was given an extension of three years and after forty years of service he retired in 2016. His presidency saw several changes in the university for good. The first literary magazine of the Urdu department was published under the name of "Armughan". The annual publication of the magazine was approved and the budget was approved. A major project was received from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India for the Urdu translation of Rabindranath Tagore's books, under which a hefty sum of Rs. 96 lakhs were sanctioned. With this grant, 13 books of Tagore were translated into Urdu. They were published and many seminars and workshops were held on Tagore.

His articles were also published in book form. In which “Urdu Sahafat: Mazi Aur Haal”, “Ibn-e-Safi: Shakhsiyat Aur Fan", "Khitabat-e-Shoba-e-Urdu" and "Rabindranath Tagore – Fikr-o-Fann" are included. Prof. Khalid Mahmood has also been the Managing Director of the famous publishing house Maktab Jamia Limited. In this capacity, he donated four hundred out-of-print valuable books of the school, the number which became four hundred and forty thousand after printing, in collaboration with the National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language. During this time, he was also the editor-in-chief of the monthly "Kitab Numa" and the children's monthly "Payame-e-Taleem".
In 2014, he became the Vice Chairman of the Delhi Urdu Academy. There, he continued to hold major seminars, commemorative and extensive sermons, as well as various literary and cultural programs.

To sum up, Prof. Khalid Mahmood is basically a distinguished teacher, thoughtful poet, intelligent satirist and humorist, translator, critic and prose writer. His books include, ‘Urdu Safar-naamon kaa Tanqidi Mutala’, ‘Adab Ki Tabir’, ‘Nuquush-e-Mani’, ‘Tahrir Ke Rang’. ‘Adab Aur Sahafati Adab’, and many monographs of Urdu poets and writers. Your book "Shaguftagi Dil Ki" is very popular among the readers. At the request of the National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language, he has compiled the works of the famous satirist and comedian Mullah Ramozi in six volumes. On behalf of Delhi Urdu Academy, he also organized a three-day All India Seminar on the tradition of satire in Urdu and compiled its articles in book form. He has also contributed significantly to the compilation of textbooks. In addition, there are many other books that he has co-authored.

Numerous academic and literary institutions of the country have presented awards and honors in recognition of his services. From Sahitya Academy he has bagged translation award, from Ghalib Institute he has bagged “Ghalib Award for Urdu Prose”, from Delhi Urdu Academy he has bagged Poetry Award, from Madhya Pradesh Urdu Academy he has bagged Hind Mir Taqi Mir Award, and from Delhi Minority Commission he has bagged Farogh-e-Urdu Award. Many articles and books have been written centering around his personality and literary contributions. In 1998, Dr. Saifi Sarwanji published a huge issue of his magazine "Ittisab". He compiled and published a book titled "Shakhsiyat Aur Fan". In 2010 he authored and published another book "Khalid Mahmood bahaisiyat-e-Insha-Nigar". In 2015, Barkatullah University Bhopal awarded Muhammad Ayaz Khan a PhD in "Dr. Khalid Mahmood: Shakhsiyat Aur Fan".