A celebrated writer’s sophomore novel may be much more modest in scope than her debut, but is equally ambitious in its premi...
Published 14 Feb, 2021 06:47am
Ebola is a viral infection which causes haemorrhagic fever. Though rare, it has been devastating in west, central ...
Updated 07 Feb, 2021 05:43pm
A well-researched treatise argues for the need to take the threat of scientific racism seriously...
Published 07 Feb, 2021 07:49am
A new book by a veteran scholar connects political economist Karl Marx’s thoughts from his early years to his later writings...
Updated 07 Feb, 2021 05:44pm
A debut novel set in Lahore and New York and focused on the plight of the marginalised in Pakistan shows future promise even...
Published 07 Feb, 2021 07:49am
Our writers find it easier to convey thoughts and ideas in their prose, but struggle when the feelings and emotions are to be...
Published 31 Jan, 2021 07:06am
A critical, informative and argumentative collection of essays on the changing face of media in Pakistan...
Published 31 Jan, 2021 07:06am
A sequel book by a music aficionado provides insight into the life and work of 35 more film playback singers from the Subcont...
Published 31 Jan, 2021 07:06am
Nasir Abbas Nayyar’s fourth collection of short stories showcases the writer’s scholarliness, creativity and fertile mind...
Published 31 Jan, 2021 07:06am
From 1987’s The Art of the Deal to 2015’s Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again, erstwhile American...
Published 24 Jan, 2021 06:45am
A Western scholar remembers his association with the late Shamsur Rahman Faruqi...
Published 24 Jan, 2021 06:44am
I was maybe nine when introduced to Ghalib. Father presented me some verses that I noted in my squiggly handwriting....
Published 24 Jan, 2021 06:44am
Gen Yahya Khan was at the helm of state and the army when Pakistan was torn asunder in 1971...
Published 24 Jan, 2021 06:44am
Those of us who grew up during the last years of the British Raj had little choice if we wanted a decent education...
Published 17 Jan, 2021 06:55am
With books on criticism, compilations, translations and even stories, Taj Joyo is a cultural icon more should know about...
Published 17 Jan, 2021 06:55am
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ayad Akhtar’s latest novel is an elegy for America. But it is also an elegy for Muslim...
Published 17 Jan, 2021 06:55am
Naseer Turabi, who passed away on January 10, had only two slim volumes of poetry to his name, but his...
Published 17 Jan, 2021 06:55am
A research-laden book details how various women’s movements tackled organisational structures of supremacy and control in the
Published 10 Jan, 2021 11:17am
A Pakistani science fiction novella set in a dystopian post-pandemic world asks important questions
Published 10 Jan, 2021 11:12am
A personal memoir is also a socio-cultural history into the past and present of Sri Lanka
Published 10 Jan, 2021 11:07am
Inam Nadeem is among those who embrace different forms of art with equal vivacity. His extraordinary comprehension ...
Published 10 Jan, 2021 11:03am
In attempting to capture the significant rules of nature as applicable to humans, the author surmises that those civilisations
Published 10 Jan, 2021 10:59am
As far as I am concerned, I know Western literature, but I do not feel belittled by it.”...
Updated 03 Jan, 2021 03:50pm
Despite documenting a personal perspective on tragic events, a book manages to be not only informative and enlightening, but...
Published 03 Jan, 2021 07:31am
Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, who passed away on December 25, was a true giant of Urdu literature — a critic, a poet, a novelist,...
Published 03 Jan, 2021 07:31am
A collection of travelogues that rises above the genre because of the author’s immense knowledge of what he writes about...
Published 27 Dec, 2020 07:04am
In his preface to the third edition of Sharif Beti [The Gentle Daughter], published in 1918, its publisher Syed...
Published 27 Dec, 2020 07:04am
A book of essays by a sociologist and various other scholars, clinicians and specialists addresses the knowledge gap in...
Published 27 Dec, 2020 07:04am
A pared-down disaster novella from master storyteller Don DeLillo, about a technology blackout and its effects on the social...
Published 27 Dec, 2020 07:04am
What is the equivalent of public poetry — verse written at white heat after a momentous event — in literary...
Published 20 Dec, 2020 06:59am
A book fills a key gap in the available literature on public interest journalism’s attempt to impact national politics...
Published 20 Dec, 2020 06:59am
A debut collection of stories and poems attempts to plumb the emotional depths of soldiers who subsume their own lives to the...
Published 20 Dec, 2020 06:59am
Owen Bennett-Jones’s remarkable latest book is not simply about one dynasty. It is a history of Pakistan from its birth until...
Published 20 Dec, 2020 06:59am
Despite shifting online and the lack of physical crowds at the 13th International Urdu Conference, the spirit of scholarship with
Published 13 Dec, 2020 08:23am
A Palestinian author’s new novel about the Israeli occupation burns with the white heat of taking a stand against the erasure of
Published 13 Dec, 2020 08:19am
An anthropologist’s cri de coeur: to save ancient artwork before it’s destroyed by greedy developers and mindless collectors and
Published 13 Dec, 2020 08:13am
In a country where philosophy is not even taught in most public and private colleges and universities, and where...
Published 13 Dec, 2020 08:06am
A Booker-shortlist alumnus pens a fun, engaging novel about a fictional band that you can enjoy like a pop song — easy on the ear
Published 06 Dec, 2020 08:26am
Three feminists attempt to define an inclusive new manifesto that attempts to address the failures of earlier iterations of
Published 06 Dec, 2020 08:22am
A book traces the history of Pakistan’s leftist labour movement through the life and politics of activist Karamat Ali
Published 06 Dec, 2020 08:17am
Nuclear weapons have long enriched the discourse on international politics. The doyens of nuclear strategy have...
Published 06 Dec, 2020 08:14am
A former IG Police analyses the reasons for ill-governance in the country and how to put the state back on the road to...
Updated 29 Nov, 2020 03:44pm
He shows Raphael a strangely brilliant piece of shagreen; anyone who possesses the skin and makes a wish will have his wish...
Updated 29 Nov, 2020 04:22pm
A book on the thorny issue of Balochistan’s underdevelopment by a Baloch former bureaucrat, writer and politician, despite his...
Published 29 Nov, 2020 06:55am
A debut novelist digs into the glossy lives of the competitive Pakistani upper crust and reveals how they unravel.
Updated 30 Nov, 2020 12:35pm
Traditionally a rarity that only the elite enjoyed, shark fin soup suddenly fell within the reach of the general...
Published 22 Nov, 2020 07:21am
Now in its second year, the Zeenat Haroon Rashid (ZHR) Writing Prize for Women has announced 21-year-old ...
Published 22 Nov, 2020 07:21am
An important book takes on the issues of class, race and gender that mainstream white feminism has often ignored...
Published 22 Nov, 2020 07:21am
A posthumous publication by a towering scholar on Pakistan and Islam brings together 10 of her finest essays in one volume...
Published 22 Nov, 2020 07:21am
After his earlier book, which showcased Karachi, the author turns his attention to Lahore and again...
Published 15 Nov, 2020 07:37am
The one whose spring would be this, then its autumn — do not ask!
Updated 15 Nov, 2020 12:57pm
A Pakistani collection of tales of the supernatural does what it sets out to do: scare and entertain...
Published 15 Nov, 2020 07:37am
Researcher Aqeel Abbas Jafri has penned an authoritative and invaluable account of the origins, history and technicalities of...
Published 15 Nov, 2020 07:37am
An anthology of well-thought-out essays by Muslim women communicates with clarity of thought and force about the...
Published 15 Nov, 2020 07:37am
Any transcript of memory, however, carries in it the seed of reinvention, even if chronologies are observed...
Published 08 Nov, 2020 07:20am
A Buddhist monk explores the nature of solitude and why it is essential to preserving our fundamental humanity...
Updated 13 Nov, 2020 11:54am
A compendium of impractical but entertaining and scientifically solid advice will help you see everyday issues in a new light...
Published 08 Nov, 2020 07:20am
The Booker-nominated third novel in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s trilogy about growing up in Zimbabwe grapples with the idea of...
Published 08 Nov, 2020 07:20am
A senior journalist heavily involved in charitable efforts in Pakistan and Canada sets out to inspire readers...
Published 01 Nov, 2020 06:59am
Over four months into 2020’s second half, a quartet of women writers of colour — Zadie Smith, Arundhati Roy, ...
Published 01 Nov, 2020 06:59am
The primary audience for Arundhati Roy’s latest book may be Indian, but Pakistanis can learn as much from it...
Published 01 Nov, 2020 06:59am
Although marketed as a bicultural chick-lit endeavour, Hina Belitz’s sophomore novel is elegantly written and humorous.
Updated 03 Nov, 2020 02:52pm
A meticulously researched and compelling book juxtaposes the role of Punjab’s elites with that of the masses during the...
Published 01 Nov, 2020 06:59am
Shortlisted for the 2020 Booker prize, a debut novel presents a venomous portrayal of a toxic mother-daughter relationship...
Published 25 Oct, 2020 07:09am
An engaging, eye-opening and meticulously researched book on architecture and politics lays bare how some of Europ...
Published 25 Oct, 2020 07:09am
During his active political career, Saif Khalid was imprisoned multiple times...
Published 25 Oct, 2020 07:09am
Currently based in Dubai, Avni Doshi was born in New Jersey to immigrants from India. She worked as an art curator...
Published 25 Oct, 2020 07:09am
This is the concluding part of an essay on censorship; the first part was carried on August 9...
Published 18 Oct, 2020 07:14am
I’ve been working on Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib for nearly a decade. My original idea was to work on the ghazals...
Published 18 Oct, 2020 07:14am
The first authentic account of the Pashto film industry traces its roots from the 1940s and attempts to explain why it later...
Updated 20 Oct, 2020 11:15am
An anthology of essays is an eclectic cultural history of sorts of Pakistan, attempting to look at the country beyond the...
Published 18 Oct, 2020 07:14am
Tsitsi Dangarembga has been shortlisted for this year’s Booker prize for her novel This Mournable Body, which...
Published 11 Oct, 2020 07:01am
That sort of rapport between a writer and a bookseller has long vanished as have many of the shops, including the one I knew...
Published 11 Oct, 2020 07:01am
This ‘honour roll’ of some of the most well known personalities associated with the Sindh Madressatul...
Published 11 Oct, 2020 07:01am
A debut novel that shows promise when focusing on the human condition rather than on clichéd themes of drug-running...
Published 11 Oct, 2020 07:01am
An anthology of essays on Pakistani cinema raises the question: what happens to
a society when its cinema dies?...
Published 11 Oct, 2020 07:01am
A collection of writings on those personalities of Pakistan who had, in Immanuel Kant’s words, “the courage to know”, or emerge
Published 04 Oct, 2020 08:39am
Everywhere, there are some politicians who take to writing at an opportune time in their careers. They write on...
Published 04 Oct, 2020 08:39am
A novel about a society where bodily choices are made for women is set in a strange dystopian world. Or is it?
Published 04 Oct, 2020 08:39am
This year is the 1,000th anniversary of Ferdowsi’s death, the epic poet whose magnificent Shahnama has shaped not only culture
Published 04 Oct, 2020 08:39am
George Floyd’s death in May sparked global outrage and brought centre stage the prevailing systemic inequalities...
Published 27 Sep, 2020 07:09am
In a tale that exhibits the familiar trope of love between a middle-class girl and an upper-class boy, Sara...
Published 27 Sep, 2020 07:09am
The Covid-19 pandemic was initially hailed as ‘the great equaliser.’ But is it really?
Published 27 Sep, 2020 07:09am
A beautifully written Urdu memoir is part personal history of a former bureaucrat and part analysis of Pakistan’s faultlines from
Published 27 Sep, 2020 07:09am
An absorbing fairytale of the power of love over cultural dissonance and a woman’s strength of character...
Published 20 Sep, 2020 06:56am
A pioneering and riveting account, of the mostly Muslim Indian soldiers who fought in the Second World War, is a labour of love...
Published 20 Sep, 2020 06:56am
The finalists for this year’s Booker Prize have been announced, with six titles chosen from a longlist of 13 ...
Published 20 Sep, 2020 06:56am
Declan Walsh’s recollections of Pakistan, despite its personal digressions, offers a rare collage of Pakistan’s most...
Published 20 Sep, 2020 06:56am
A tribute to one of the most prominent poets of the Sindhi language...
Published 13 Sep, 2020 06:52am
In this column, I want to discuss a new book I co-edited with my colleagues Nafhesa Ali and Richard Phillips (both...
Updated 13 Sep, 2020 07:18am
A fictional Urdu novella reflects the sentiments and fears of the people of Gwadar
about their future...
Updated 13 Sep, 2020 07:18am
A bi-cultural novel about two Egyptian sisters set in the post-Arab Spring world explores timeless issues of love and longing...
Updated 13 Sep, 2020 07:20am
In Pakistan, those citizens who feel concerned about the rapid deterioration happening in almost every walk of life,...
Published 06 Sep, 2020 07:02am
A recent book explores the lives of select female singers of Pakistan to gain insight into the country’s sociology and its...
Updated 07 Sep, 2020 04:24pm
An Urdu book narrates Karachi’s glorious heritage via the tales behind the naming of its streets, indicating how cities...
Published 06 Sep, 2020 07:02am
Ben Lerner’s final instalment of his autofiction trilogy is as big-brained as it is large-hearted and goes beyond excavating...
Published 06 Sep, 2020 07:02am
An International Booker Prize-shortlisted novel about a family’s travails following Iran’s Islamic Revolution paints...
Published 30 Aug, 2020 08:35am
Most of us know that a lughat is an Urdu/Arabic/Persian equivalent of a dictionary, but many might not know what a...
Published 30 Aug, 2020 08:35am
A former Pakistani diplomat presents his ringside view of political developments in Afghanistan over the past two decades...
Published 30 Aug, 2020 08:35am
