Shama Zafar Mehdi was born on December 15, 1943 in Baharpur, Uttar Pradesh to a distinguished academic and literary family. She did her BA from Karamat Hussain Muslim Girls College, Lucknow and her MA from Aligarh Muslim University. Her husband Zafar Mehdi himself was a very good poet and the brother of well-known critic and poet Baqir Mehdi. She now lives in Lucknow. Her poetry collection "Mah e Grifta" was published in 2010.