Before the Karachi Literature Festival hits its 10-year milestone, it would be in its interest to re-examine how it can
Published 18 Feb, 2018 06:38am
Saraab-i-Aagahi
Aisha GhaziA lawyer, molecular biologist, independent documentary filmmaker and a poet, Ghazi’s...
Published 18 Feb, 2018 06:38am
Since being introduced to her at a rather early age, I have always felt proximity with Jamila Hashmi’s works of...
Published 11 Feb, 2018 06:38am
A posthumously published book on the culture of Awadh is by far the most knowledgeable and meticulous description
Published 11 Feb, 2018 06:38am
Memoirs that revisit three decades of Pakistan’s international relations
Published 11 Feb, 2018 06:38am
Hema Malini’s authorised biography is full of new information about her
Published 11 Feb, 2018 06:38am
I like the musical, poetic quality of the name ‘Saqi Farooqi’. Who would choose such an outlandish name for...
Published 11 Feb, 2018 06:38am
An important piece of current literature with difficult prose and ideas worth understanding requires patience. And it
Published 11 Feb, 2018 06:38am
Despite some omissions, Muhammad Umar Memon’s new anthology of translations provides an exemplary introduction
Updated 12 Feb, 2018 11:20am
Professor C.M. Naim once wrote that the Pakistani Urdu press revels in nasty personal attacks and ugly innuendos,...
Published 04 Feb, 2018 06:56am
An engaging account of life as a journalist, from the first woman to become part of Dawn’s editorial team
Published 04 Feb, 2018 06:56am
A debut collection of English poems allows its writer to address his personal obsessions
Published 04 Feb, 2018 06:56am
In her second collection, an Indian poet pours out her love for Urdu, the ghazal and mystical devotion
Published 04 Feb, 2018 06:56am
My last monograph, Britain Through Muslim Eyes, as its title suggests, emphasised the Muslim author’s gaze on the...
Published 04 Feb, 2018 06:56am
This Urdu short story collection cements Akhlaq Ahmed’s reputation as an artist
Published 04 Feb, 2018 06:56am
A celebrated police officer’s take on the issues of policing in Pakistan offers important food for thought, but needs
Published 04 Feb, 2018 06:56am
Muslims
Ali MahmoodAn expansive account of Muslim domination from the seventh to the 17th century, followed by 300...
Published 28 Jan, 2018 07:32am
I watched a film many years ago of whose title, story, cast and director I can recall nothing. I only remember one...
Published 28 Jan, 2018 07:32am
More than the daughter of ‘Tiger’ Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore or the sister of Saif, the lesser known Bollywood actor
Published 28 Jan, 2018 07:32am
Documenting the educational revolution since 1946 in Gilgit-Baltistan
Published 28 Jan, 2018 07:32am
An inventive near-future locked-room mystery that falls slightly short of its fascinating potential
Published 28 Jan, 2018 07:32am
Ursula Le Guin, high priestess of fantasy fiction and an influence on probably every writer of science fiction and...
Published 28 Jan, 2018 07:32am
Intricately plotted and with engaging and intriguing characters, this novel is a clever and entertaining read
Published 28 Jan, 2018 07:32am
A new book confirms what we already know: we cannot speak openly about Pakistan’s largest province
Published 28 Jan, 2018 07:32am
What is going on behind the closed doors of Trump’s White House?
Published 21 Jan, 2018 07:03am
A postmodern spoof whodunnit novel is hilarious, erudite and full of clever wordplay
Published 21 Jan, 2018 07:03am
Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman is the first book I happened to read right after my mother died in Dallas ...
Published 21 Jan, 2018 07:03am
A former US Senator’s account of Pakistan’s nuclear programme and his own role is self-serving and riddled with obvious
Published 21 Jan, 2018 07:03am
This collection of poetry is written for a younger audience with the intention of enabling readers to develop an
Published 21 Jan, 2018 07:03am
Whenever it seems impossible to make sense of the actions and events around me, I take refuge in the verse of Mir...
Published 21 Jan, 2018 07:03am
Former cricket administrator Arif Abbasi’s memoir has vast stores of information and anecdotes, but seems disjointed in
Published 21 Jan, 2018 07:03am
Tariq Ali’s book on the leader of the Russian Revolution is nuanced, scholarly and an intellectual labour of love
Published 14 Jan, 2018 09:23am
Every poet is a dreamer. Rasa Chughtai was no different. But he led a life in which there were times when he dared ...
Published 14 Jan, 2018 09:16am
When John Ashbery died last summer, I was reminded of the novel he co-wrote with James Schuyler, A Nest of Ninnies,...
Updated 14 Jan, 2018 06:42pm
Imran Khan’s political journey is undoubtedly a subject that needs academic research, but facts cannot be cherry-picked
Published 14 Jan, 2018 09:02am
Putting to rest human assumptions about nature
Published 14 Jan, 2018 08:57am
A British Punjabi writer whose second book, The Year of the Runaways, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and who
Published 14 Jan, 2018 08:47am
Adam Zameenzad, the Pakistan-born author of six novels, passed away in Britain on Dec 4, 2017, at the age of 80. He...
Published 14 Jan, 2018 08:47am
January 18 is the 71st death anniversary of Kundal Lal Saigal, one of the subcontinent’s most iconic singers
Published 14 Jan, 2018 08:47am
The appreciation of our poetics oscillates between rhetoric and rhapsody. For some great poets, such as Mirza...
Published 07 Jan, 2018 07:01am
Sixty-one years after Partition, a Pakistani travels to India with a desire to meet the man who killed his grandfather
Updated 03 Feb, 2018 02:39pm
Wajahat Masood writes what he thinks and makes no bones about it
Published 07 Jan, 2018 07:01am
A candid and unapologetically feminist novel about three modern women offers humour and serious inspiration
Published 07 Jan, 2018 07:01am
Looking westward has become such an ingrained mental habit for us that we tend to look in that direction even when ...
Published 07 Jan, 2018 07:01am
While it combines witty musings on identity, art, philosophy and linguistics, this debut novel is
at heart a teenage
Published 07 Jan, 2018 07:01am
US President Donald Trump is both a product of and canny exploiter of the fantasy-industrial complex
Published 07 Jan, 2018 07:01am
In October, I took part in the world’s biggest publishing event: the Frankfurt Book Fair. Nearly 7,000 publishers...
Published 31 Dec, 2017 07:05am
Although Urdu literature’s death was announced some 60 years ago, this year’s output, by writers old and new, proves
Published 31 Dec, 2017 07:05am
As 2017 comes to a close, a look at some works of fiction by first-time writers that came out this year
Published 31 Dec, 2017 07:05am
Khamoshi
Ali MinaiAfter publishing his first compilation of ghazals, Khwaab Aaeena Hai in 2005, the poet has...
Published 31 Dec, 2017 07:05am
MOHSIN HAMID RECOMMENDS SPUTNIK SWEETHEART BY HARUKI MURAKAMIMohsin Hamid published his first novel, Moth Smoke, in...
Published 31 Dec, 2017 07:05am
Ahmed Shah has Mars in his 10th house. He has taken along with him the institution that he has run for over a decade...
Published 31 Dec, 2017 07:05am
The 10th International Urdu Conference was successful in sustaining audience involvement, but language was not
Published 31 Dec, 2017 07:05am
A contemporary retelling of King Lear in an Indian setting is compelling and confounding at the same time
Published 31 Dec, 2017 07:05am
The last novel written by the grande dame of Urdu literature can now be savoured by an English-reading audience
Published 31 Dec, 2017 07:05am
The ‘Cat ...’ that got the creamIt is every would-be author’s dream: snag a publishing contract after writing...
Published 24 Dec, 2017 07:03am
For Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, it was difficult all along. He was writing verse in the times of Noon Meem Rashid, Majeed...
Published 24 Dec, 2017 07:03am
Collapsing time and geography into one volume with credible sources, this book is a treat for those interested
Published 24 Dec, 2017 07:03am
Why is India so keen to develop good ties with Afghanistan?
Published 24 Dec, 2017 07:03am
The first of a four-part series builds an intricately grand and recognisable fantasy world, but buckles under the weight
Published 24 Dec, 2017 07:03am
One book I most enjoyed reading this year was a freshly translated selection of Ismat Chughtai’s short stories,...
Published 24 Dec, 2017 07:03am
Jennifer Egan’s follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit From the Goon Squad shows a writer at the peak of her
Published 24 Dec, 2017 07:03am
Two collections of writing by towering figures of Urdu literature bring to light mostly forgotten short stories
Published 24 Dec, 2017 07:03am
Orhan Pamuk’s latest novel is a profound contemplation on human frailty, politics and changing cultures
Published 17 Dec, 2017 07:00am
A fine new translation of Krishan Chander’s magnum opus on Partition is timely and makes for compulsive reading
Published 17 Dec, 2017 07:00am
ALI SMITH RECOMMENDS THINGS LOOK DIFFERENT IN THE LIGHT BY MEDARDO FRAILEAli Smith is a writer who seems to enjoy...
Published 17 Dec, 2017 07:00am
Living in Clouds:
A Memoir
Dr Khwaja Ahmad Abbas A mixture of personal and cultural history, travelogue and the...
Published 17 Dec, 2017 07:00am
There are many Arabic words in the languages we speak in Pakistan and northern India, which in some cases reached us...
Published 17 Dec, 2017 07:00am
Could history be repeating itself?
Published 17 Dec, 2017 07:00am
Good writing is mostly revision, argues a prize winning author
Published 17 Dec, 2017 07:00am
A philosophical exploration of truth provides interesting insights
Published 17 Dec, 2017 07:00am
Have I got a treat for those who prefer to celebrate their holidays in hard-boiled, rather than Hallmark, style....
Published 17 Dec, 2017 07:00am
When some flamboyant journalist or dim-witted commentator takes the stage and audaciously announces the futility of...
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
Malcolm X remains an enigma despite — or because of — what is written on him. Frequently speculative and often
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
Chaotic Heartbeats
Mahnoor Fatima
A collection of verses on the things that make us human; of...
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
Warning: vehicles may not be operated by the ‘wrong’ gender
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
A novel that describes settings more than character motivations
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
The great German poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is known for the fascination he held for Persian poetry, the ...
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
A debut novel that is self-assured in its storytelling and brings together time travel, love
and treasured culinary
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
Editor, translator and political activist, Ibrahim Joyo was ultimately a teacher and mentor who helped mould the minds
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
JOHN LE CARRÉ RECOMMENDS THE WORLD OF YESTERDAY BY STEFAN ZWEIGIf there’s any living writer who has truly...
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
Poet Farrukh Yar has given me a reason to reiterate my concerns about the demeaning of contemporary literary writing...
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
What does it mean to translate a majestic religious text into another language? A new book offers food for thought
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
As purists and technophiles battle over form, a reader points out that this conflict is age-old and at the end of the
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
The legendary Argentinean footballer speaks from the heart about his career, his challenges and that infamous
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
Alif Laila wa Laila was a collaborative effort, enlivened as much by its European and Indian translators as its original
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
I recently made a flying visit to Pakistan to attend a conference at the University of Sargodha, Mandi Bahauddin...
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
A new collection announces in no uncertain terms that the Urdu short story has arrived
Updated 03 Dec, 2017 09:57pm
The good life has had few poster children like the three women of The Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in...
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
A once-forgotten novel from 1965 has surged in popularity in recent years. What’s so special about it?
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
A compassionate novel about what it means to be far from home
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
At the Annual Conference on South Asia held at the University of Wisconsin, a highlight for Urduwallahs used to be...
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
From roadside garbage to babudom, a journalist from India learns that despite the antagonism, the two countries
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
Naomi Klein writes on Trump’s triumph and the threat his presidency poses to people around the world
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
The life of a Pakistani communist and the full details about 1949’s Progressive Writers’ Conference
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
A much-deserved documentation of the high-altitude porters and mountaineers from Pakistan who all too often do not
Published 19 Nov, 2017 06:49am
A fascinating account of the history of Iranian music and its decline following 1979
Published 19 Nov, 2017 06:49am
Frantz Fanon enjoys a special place in the minds and hearts of thinkers and activists belonging to the developing...
Published 19 Nov, 2017 06:49am
A gorgeously produced coffee-table labour of love on nawabi cuisine enthrals with its anecdotes, history and recipes
Published 19 Nov, 2017 06:49am
