A qualitative study into Muslim women in India allows its subjects to form their own narratives
Published 20 May, 2018 08:02am
The shock that then jolts the reader is the substitution in the reader’s mind of the rats by people...
Published 20 May, 2018 08:02am
The Nobel Prize in Literature will not be awarded this year, amid allegations of sexual misconduct against ...
Published 20 May, 2018 08:02am
The best part about Jeet Thayil’s dazzling and dizzying sophomore novel is its book within a book
Published 20 May, 2018 08:02am
A Pulitzer-winning author details the lack of coherence and consistency that have characterised US military involvement
Published 13 May, 2018 07:20am
After a three-hour delay in departure from Islamabad, it was a turbulent flight to Quetta. The faint-hearted ...
Published 13 May, 2018 07:20am
Call it a tribute or a memoir, this book tells you more about the changing times of Hollywood than any history book
Published 13 May, 2018 07:20am
An English translation does justice to Mustansar Hussain Tarar’s deeply insightful novel
Published 13 May, 2018 07:20am
A series of interlocking short stories conjures up the supernatural and the games our brains play with the past
Published 13 May, 2018 07:20am
The larger-than-life shadow of despotic tyrants takes over all aspects of society, from work ethics to spirituality....
Published 13 May, 2018 07:20am
History is mostly about men. Two well-produced books relish demolishing that characterisation
Published 13 May, 2018 07:20am
Even after centuries have passed, the charm and enigma of great verse from anywhere has the strength to move someone...
Published 06 May, 2018 07:05am
Christopher Shackle’s translation of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai’s Risalo loses out on nuance, but is consistent, articulate
Published 06 May, 2018 07:05am
Explaining the importance of entrepreneurial education in creating a healthy economic ecosystem for Pakistan
Published 06 May, 2018 07:05am
A novel grapples with the crises of identities in multicultural America, but fails to flesh out its Pakistani characters
Published 06 May, 2018 07:05am
If family secrets are the stuff memoirs are made of, it’s no wonder the genre is flourishing. Nearly every family...
Published 06 May, 2018 07:05am
One of the most iconic filmmakers and film lyricists of the subcontinent, Sampooran Singh Kalra aka Gulzar was born...
Published 06 May, 2018 07:05am
A collection of poetry and short stories by Gulzar about Partition have finally been published in Pakistan in the script
Published 06 May, 2018 07:05am
Malala Yousafzai’s recent return to Pakistan, after five years of exile, spawned columns of newsprint and dozens ...
Published 29 Apr, 2018 07:16am
A slim new novel comes across on occasion as almost Dickensian in its sweeping portrayal of social panorama
Published 29 Apr, 2018 07:16am
A superbly researched, fresh perspective on the 1857 war of independence
Published 29 Apr, 2018 07:16am
Nigaar Khaana: Shanul Haq Haqqee ki Muntakhib Tehreerein
This collection of literary essays and pen sketches by...
Published 29 Apr, 2018 07:16am
Where autobiographical writing by black men is concerned, perhaps no figure looms as large as James Baldwin’s...
Published 29 Apr, 2018 07:16am
A book looking specifically at Pakistani migrants to the UAE has important lessons for policymakers within Pakistan
Published 29 Apr, 2018 07:16am
Stories that capture important moments of the human experience
Published 29 Apr, 2018 07:16am
An author moves characters from classics about ‘mad scientists’ confidently, if not completely convincingly, through
Published 29 Apr, 2018 07:16am
In Pakistan today, we face a renewed challenge to both freedom of inquiry and freedom of expression, coupled with a...
Published 22 Apr, 2018 07:20am
A sumptuous volume is not only a tribute to a legendary stamp designer, but also a visual chronicle
Published 22 Apr, 2018 07:20am
It’s about time something genuinely comic came out on top
Published 22 Apr, 2018 07:20am
A profound comment on identity and belonging in today’s troubled multicultural world
Published 22 Apr, 2018 07:20am
Yesterday, April 21, marked exactly 80 years since the death of Allama Muhammad Iqbal. Who is Iqbal? So many lofty...
Published 22 Apr, 2018 07:20am
True stories of people across the religious divide, who all found solace in Nizamuddin Auliya
Published 22 Apr, 2018 07:20am
A valuable addition to understanding the political economy of Pakistan, a new book takes a dialectical approach
Updated 25 Mar, 2019 04:37pm
A debutante author reconstructs Partition through the things fleeing migrants took with them from their homes
Published 15 Apr, 2018 06:28am
More than halfway through Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif’s lengthy masterpiece In the Eye of the Sun, the...
Published 15 Apr, 2018 06:28am
A debut novel that spins a twisty tale of friendship, death and deceit
Published 15 Apr, 2018 06:28am
The first runner-up in the Karachi Literature Festival-German Peace Prize is a critical and timely contribution
Published 15 Apr, 2018 06:28am
Mehvar
Ibn Saeed
In this classic story by Hasan Askari writing under a pseudonym, the disempowerment of ...
Published 15 Apr, 2018 06:28am
The poise, the grace, the detached analysis of the political trajectory of the country and the unique...
Published 15 Apr, 2018 06:28am
Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s autobiography is mediocre at best and has come too soon in his career
Published 15 Apr, 2018 06:28am
Aanchal Malhotra is the author of Remnants of a Separation: A History of the Partition Through Material Memory
Did...
Published 15 Apr, 2018 06:28am
The Best of Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Parvez Anjum
With several volumes of translations to his name, particularly the works ...
Published 08 Apr, 2018 06:48am
When I was 9 or 10 and liked to go to Saturday afternoon horror films, there was a kid who got so scared he’d pull...
Published 08 Apr, 2018 06:48am
Exploring what it means to be a Muslim in today’s India through the lens of a vilified Delhi neighbourhood
Published 08 Apr, 2018 06:48am
A “story that ought to be better known” could have been far better told
Published 08 Apr, 2018 06:48am
The first of a series of mystery novels set in 1920s Bombay is flawed, but also offers promise
Published 08 Apr, 2018 06:48am
Garden imagery can be allegorical, metaphorical or simply romantic. In classical Persian and Urdu ghazal, the garden...
Published 08 Apr, 2018 06:48am
The English translation of a seminal work that documents journalists’ struggle against state repression in 1977-78
Published 08 Apr, 2018 06:48am
An uncommon masterpiece on the Russian Revolution of 1917 incorporates illuminating insights and information, even
Published 08 Apr, 2018 06:48am
British baking star Nadiya Hussain debuts with an original novel that is more substantial than the average beach read
Published 01 Apr, 2018 06:49am
Despite being light on theory and heavy on policy, an anthology presents a crucial contribution to academic discourse
Published 01 Apr, 2018 06:49am
On a cool February morning, I flew into Islamabad to speak at the Mother Languages Literature Festival at Lok Virsa...
Published 01 Apr, 2018 06:49am
Fatahnamah-i-Sindh
Dr Nabi Bakhsh
Khan Baloch
This reprint of Dr Baloch’s 1982 book coincides with his birth...
Published 01 Apr, 2018 06:49am
To the utter dismay of a few quintessential lamenters with liberal leanings in our midst, we were successful in...
Published 01 Apr, 2018 06:49am
A journalist’s travels through Pakistan to reinstil faith in and hope for the country
Published 01 Apr, 2018 06:49am
On March 23, Mohsin Hamid was awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz [Star of Excellence] by the government of Pakistan for his...
Published 01 Apr, 2018 06:49am
Richard Dawkins — atheist, evolutionary biologist, vocal critic of all religions and author of more than a dozen...
Published 25 Mar, 2018 06:15am
It is perhaps their inherent sense of pride and overtly masculine demeanour that prevents the Pakhtun from crying ...
Published 25 Mar, 2018 06:15am
A glossy coffee-table book takes a pictorial excursion into Pakistan’s cinematic past
Published 25 Mar, 2018 06:15am
A deceased family member with a mysterious will sets the plot for a quirky novel about family, death, madness — and
Published 25 Mar, 2018 06:15am
Seeing China’s vast borderlands through the eyes of those who must deal with the challenge of living with neighbours
Published 25 Mar, 2018 06:15am
Last month marked the launch of the Smithsonian Institution’s ‘Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the...
Published 25 Mar, 2018 06:15am
Franklin Foer asks: what happens to society when journalism is reduced to little more than tabloid fare?
Published 25 Mar, 2018 06:15am
Despite a few omissions, Dr Kaiser Bengali has done a service to Balochistan by eloquently presenting the case for the
Published 25 Mar, 2018 06:15am
She started out as an artist’s model, and went on to become a respected painter in her own right
Published 18 Mar, 2018 07:09am
A multilayered novel punctuated with contemporary history that deserves to be read more than once
Published 18 Mar, 2018 07:09am
It is cold midwinter and the line from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Ode to the West Wind’ — “If Winter comes,...
Published 18 Mar, 2018 07:09am
Hasan Manzar’s novel Habs is a lesson in history and human nature
Published 18 Mar, 2018 07:09am
Shikarpur no longer enjoys the geographic and economic significance it did a few centuries ago. In her book, Prof Anila
Published 18 Mar, 2018 07:09am
Wisdom from the Quran: Essays in Contemporary Context
Nilofar AhmedA collection of essays — many of which were...
Published 18 Mar, 2018 07:09am
Paul Auster, one of my favourite American writers, says that we are ruled by the forces of chance and coincidence....
Published 18 Mar, 2018 07:09am
Pakistani English writers are telling stories grounded in theoretical debates, attracting both general readers and
Published 18 Mar, 2018 07:09am
Main Aur Tum, Jaisay...
Ruqayya Diwan AdamjeeA series of illustrations exemplifying soulmates through concepts that...
Published 11 Mar, 2018 06:56am
With the passing of Jam Saqi an era comes to an end. During my undergraduate years in Karachi, I lived in a room ...
Published 11 Mar, 2018 06:56am
Social media celebrity Junaid Akram talks about his book-swapping library, A Novel Idea
Published 11 Mar, 2018 06:56am
A biography of one of the most accomplished and influential civil rights activists in the US sheds light on current
Published 11 Mar, 2018 06:56am
A provocative new book argues that the spread of education is reshaping the world
Published 11 Mar, 2018 06:56am
The novel is a rare bird on the Urdu literary scene. Noting the appearance of a number of good novels in Urdu in a...
Published 11 Mar, 2018 06:56am
Scholarly essays trace the networks and influences of jihadi politics between South Asia and the Middle East
Published 11 Mar, 2018 06:56am
An anthology of English translations hints at the visceral power of a master storyteller’s craft, but is
often let
Published 11 Mar, 2018 06:56am
The fourth part of a quartet on relations between the West and Muslims post-9/11 focuses on Europe’s interaction
Updated 05 Mar, 2018 05:07pm
A debut novel with relatable stereotypes of Pakistani women does not offer any commentary on them or develop them
Published 04 Mar, 2018 07:04am
What an absolute delight it was to hear Adrian A. Husain read from his collection of sonnets, Italian Window, at a...
Published 04 Mar, 2018 07:04am
An ethnographic study of tea-drinking through history and across cultures offers fascinating stories for tea-lovers
Published 04 Mar, 2018 07:04am
At the last Karachi Literature Festival, keynote speaker Francis Robinson called Moni Mohsin the ‘Jane Austen of...
Published 04 Mar, 2018 07:04am
A memoir that is warm and full of earthy humour, captures a vanished city and elevates the idea of identity
Published 04 Mar, 2018 07:04am
Audiences seem to have stayed away in large numbers from this year’s Lahore Literary Festival. A lack of attention
Published 04 Mar, 2018 07:04am
In the popular romances constituting the folklore of the Indus Valley, women are the real heroes. In these ...
Published 25 Feb, 2018 07:11am
Hillary Clinton provides a window into her mind and beliefs, but also glosses over some inconvenient truths
Published 25 Feb, 2018 07:11am
A novel that sacrifices nuance, diction and character development in its attempts to craft a cinema-worthy story
Updated 25 Feb, 2018 03:56pm
A debut collection of poems is a paean to the poet’s nostalgia about his city, but offers much, much more
Published 25 Feb, 2018 07:11am
We have all seen stories about children barely out of kindergarten playing Rachmaninoff, or writing complex proofs...
Published 25 Feb, 2018 07:11am
The posthumous publication of two additional volumes of Ali Sufyan Afaqi’s chronicles of Pakistan’s cinema industry
Published 25 Feb, 2018 07:11am
A comprehensive history of the Talpur dynasty in Sindh sheds light on its internal intrigues and the colonial British
Published 25 Feb, 2018 07:11am
What urban couple wouldn’t want to trade the din of the Q train for the sound of crickets, exchange a cramped...
Published 18 Feb, 2018 06:38am
Victoria Schofield is a military historian and broadcaster. Her extensive work includes several books on South Asia....
Published 18 Feb, 2018 06:38am
The global software giant’s India-born chief executive shares his vision of the future
Published 18 Feb, 2018 06:38am
An attempt to present a soft image of the war-torn country is appreciable, but not entirely accurate or coherent
Published 18 Feb, 2018 06:38am
The fortunes of the fecund text Padmavat, on which the controversial Sanjay Leela Bhansali Bollywood film of this...
Updated 18 Feb, 2018 12:56pm
