A voluminous biography of China’s celebrated former prime minister, based on previously inaccessible documents, is also partly a
Published 16 Mar, 2025 12:03pm
American journalist and author Jessica Bruder was in Pakistan last month to attend the Lahore Literary Festival. She speaks with
Published 16 Mar, 2025 11:54am
Mustansar Hussain Tarar’s new book delves into the intricacies of human nature as he shares his personal experiences with some of
Published 16 Mar, 2025 11:42am
‘True crime’ has existed in some guise since the late 19th century, but it got its name in the 1960s. Books in...
Published 16 Mar, 2025 11:32am
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ new book, spanning Senegal, the United States and Palestine, is a call to arms for anyone who believes in the
Published 09 Mar, 2025 09:25am
A rewrite of the movie Runaway Bride with a new ending conceived by the author is consummate romance novel fodder
Published 09 Mar, 2025 09:20am
Published 13 years after his death, the memoirs of legendary comedian, actor and compere Moin Akhtar make one feel as if he is...
Published 09 Mar, 2025 09:17am
Many years ago, the late poet, critic and broadcaster Qamar Jameel scribed his poetry collection Chahaar Khwaab [Four Dreams] for
Published 09 Mar, 2025 09:12am
The 13th Lahore Literary Festival, which took place February 21-23, had some intriguing sessions of discussions focusing on the...
Published 02 Mar, 2025 08:19am
A retired detective and his daughter-in-law create a dynamic and unconventional crime-solving duo
Published 02 Mar, 2025 08:15am
Winner of the 2024 Booker Prize, a slim novel set in a space station engages with deep questions about the future of humanity and
Published 02 Mar, 2025 08:09am
A kind of poetic justice was meted out to me some years later. My school had been recently nationalised and, while a number of
Published 02 Mar, 2025 08:03am
The book provides the complete history of Jammu & Kashmir, from the rule of the Mughals followed by the Sikhs and Britishers...
Published 23 Feb, 2025 09:58am
While sometimes dated, journalist Zahid Hussain’s collection of 39 interviews with people who mattered at the time, provides...
Published 23 Feb, 2025 09:42am
A slim collection of short stories covers vast ground, from magical realism to social ills and diverse issues facing expatriate...
Published 23 Feb, 2025 09:37am
At a first glance, one feels jitters going through the spine to note the title Ghalib gave to his 1857-1858 diary of that fateful
Published 23 Feb, 2025 09:34am
The 16th Karachi Literature Festival was held over three days from February 7-9. An author of two novels assesses the annual...
Published 16 Feb, 2025 09:29am
An Urdu translation of the most famous book by last year’s winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Han Kang, is flawless and...
Published 16 Feb, 2025 09:23am
An important new book leads one to rethink what the world could have been, had notions of ethnic and civilisational superiority...
Published 16 Feb, 2025 09:17am
At the 16th Karachi Literature Festival (KLF), the two incisive keynote speeches in the inaugural session, by F.S....
Updated 09 Mar, 2025 09:11am
A second edition of a book with an additional article delves into the prickly issues surrounding the state of Pakistan, in...
Published 09 Feb, 2025 10:01am
Awais Khan’s latest novel, about a married Lahore high-society couple trying to navigate a relationship fraught with personal...
Published 09 Feb, 2025 09:33am
A stupendous piece of painstaking research, a new book in Urdu provides the most comprehensive listing of Mohammed Rafi songs...
Published 09 Feb, 2025 09:26am
The pronoun ‘hum’ or ‘we’ is added to many of Farsi-Urdu nouns to create poetic, evocative compounds such as...
Published 09 Feb, 2025 09:24am
A historian looks at Lahore as a case-study to see how his hometown has systematically lost its connection to its many-splendoured
Published 02 Feb, 2025 09:17am
A memoir by a young blogger seems like a self-help book for young women like her and is primarily focused on child-rearing and...
Published 02 Feb, 2025 09:13am
Dr Mahmood Ali Ayub compares the life experiences and poetic styles of two celebrated poets — Pakistan’s Faiz Ahmed Faiz...
Published 02 Feb, 2025 09:10am
Sometimes the lack of stimulation is just what the mind needs to develop in a healthy way. I recently thought about...
Published 02 Feb, 2025 09:03am
While a new book about the scandalous death of poet and former bureaucrat Mustafa Zaidi more than 50 years ago still doesn’t give
Published 26 Jan, 2025 09:58am
A slim book is a good starting point for those who want to have a basic idea about Pakistan’s economic problems and policies over
Published 26 Jan, 2025 09:53am
An English translation of Hasan Manzar’s Urdu novel Habs successfully retains the style and meaning of the original work
Published 26 Jan, 2025 09:40am
In Jamshoro, a couple of months ago, I had a chance to visit the M.H. Panhwar Institute of Sindh Studies. The...
Published 26 Jan, 2025 09:35am
A gripping tale about prevailing political realities, Omar Shahid Hamid’s sixth novel is a playful political satire about power
Published 19 Jan, 2025 09:11am
A collection of short stories, essays and reflections force one to ponder the harsh realities of life and the resilience required
Updated 19 Jan, 2025 05:03pm
A coffee table book chronicles the convoluted journey of the establishment of the National Art Gallery in Islamabad, from its...
Published 19 Jan, 2025 08:58am
This summer I was awarded a GCSE in Urdu. I’m now inching towards an A-level in the language. I was inspired to...
Published 19 Jan, 2025 08:48am
A first collection of short stories by a renowned academic fuses the absurd with realism and explores social layers of...
Published 12 Jan, 2025 08:43am
Set against the backdrop of gruesome murders in the late 1970s in bleak post-industrial Yorkshire, England, a rewarding debut...
Published 12 Jan, 2025 08:39am
A veteran journalist’s recollections document Pakistan’s political and social history, offering insight particularly into some...
Published 12 Jan, 2025 08:35am
Written around 1592, William Shakespeare’s play Richard III follows the reign of England’s infamous monarch and...
Published 12 Jan, 2025 08:30am
Bapsi Sidhwa, who passed away on December 25, was one of the pioneers of English novel writing in Pakistan and also one of its
Published 05 Jan, 2025 10:40am
An excellent translation into Pashto of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is one of the lasting legacies of the late Qalandar Momand
Published 05 Jan, 2025 10:17am
Mani Shankar Aiyar is a human Wagah/Attari gateway, a tangible point of contact between two irascible neighbours — India and...
Published 05 Jan, 2025 10:10am
Our ace poet Ahmed Mushtaq writes: “Yeh hain naey loagon ke ghar, sach hai ab inn ko kya khabar/ Dil bhi kisi ka...
Updated 26 Jan, 2025 09:33am
Shazaf Fatima Haider’s latest novel, about a woman contemplating divorce, delivers a bold and irresistible rollercoaster ride that
Published 29 Dec, 2024 09:13am
A well-researched book delves into the technological changes that are impacting the world’s socio-cultural landscape and what to
Published 29 Dec, 2024 09:08am
A coffee table book about pre-Partition postcards from the areas now part of Pakistan evokes nostalgia as well as preserves a part
Published 29 Dec, 2024 09:04am
Professor Abdur Rasheed, who retired as Urdu professor from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, is one of Urdu...
Published 29 Dec, 2024 08:56am
A book by a Nobel Prize winning molecular biologist about the biology of aging and death offers fascinating insight into the...
Published 22 Dec, 2024 10:36am
A coming-of-age novel about friendships, family dynamics and cultural pressures resonates with the South Asian migrant experience
Published 22 Dec, 2024 10:28am
A new collection of poems touching on themes of love, friendship, grief, loss, death, gratitude and the complexity of...
Published 22 Dec, 2024 10:25am
The history of that treacherous and devastating Indian insurrection of 1857 carved in South Asian Muslim memory as...
Published 22 Dec, 2024 10:19am
The true triumph of a debut novel inspired by real life political machinations from early 1990s Pakistan is in putting into
Published 15 Dec, 2024 09:24am
A slim but noteworthy book looks at the decline of Hindustani classical music in Pakistan and posits the reasons behind it
Published 15 Dec, 2024 09:23am
In a ninth installment of ‘Evergreens’ from his bookshelf, Muhammad Ali Siddiqi remembers books about wars that defined the
Published 15 Dec, 2024 09:23am
The novel from Sehbai proves once again that, for him, art is a continuum with no beginning and no end. Art keeps grow
Published 15 Dec, 2024 09:23am
The Urdu translation of a novel considered a classic of modern Chinese literature is immensely atmospheric and evocative
Published 08 Dec, 2024 08:12am
A prize-winning debut novel brings into perspective colour prejudice and the pleasures of the natural world, while being
Published 08 Dec, 2024 08:12am
A new book on the life of the late Baloch insurgent Mir Hazar Khan Marri is less about him than about presenting a statist
Updated 08 Dec, 2024 01:02pm
The library spilled over to the adjacent verandah. Father’s most amazing collection, the complete set of 45 volumes
Published 08 Dec, 2024 08:12am
Those who use print dictionaries frequently, get so practised in the exercise that they can usually open it on the...
Published 01 Dec, 2024 07:07am
A republishing of the most comprehensive study of Sindh’s history is a visual treat as well as a book to cherish
Published 01 Dec, 2024 07:07am
A collection of reviews written in contemporaneous publications about Pakistani movies released between 1948 and 1971 fills a...
Published 01 Dec, 2024 07:07am
An Irish author’s novel about two brothers dealing with grief in their own ways and their relationship with each other offers some
Published 01 Dec, 2024 07:07am
A witty memoir sheds light on growing up queer in Pakistan, moving to America and struggling to find a place between the two world
Published 24 Nov, 2024 10:23am
The murders of four women and the arrest of the suspect prompts a young woman to start corresponding with the killer in jail
Published 24 Nov, 2024 10:23am
A journalist’s memoirs shed light on a particularly tumultuous phase of Pakistan’s history
Published 24 Nov, 2024 10:23am
The Dhahan Prize for Punjabi fiction announced its 11th annual winner, Jinder (Jalandhar, Punjab, India), of a...
Published 24 Nov, 2024 10:23am
Although Noor Zaheer shares the broad outlines of the same political ideology and their progressive literary bent,
Published 24 Nov, 2024 10:23am
Hanif Kureishi’s new book is a riveting and courageous memoir about the accident that left him paralysed and his experiences
Published 17 Nov, 2024 07:57am
You have been back in your London home for several months now, after a year in different hospitals, following your...
Updated 17 Nov, 2024 11:24am
A darkly humorous essay about medical students wins the non-fiction prize this year
Updated 17 Nov, 2024 11:24am
A collection of articles focuses on the education crisis in Pakistan
Updated 17 Nov, 2024 11:23am
On a fine, cold November afternoon, I am sitting at a restaurant with Naila Khan, a friend from Dhaka, who is ...
Updated 17 Nov, 2024 11:23am
The mere sweep of a voluminous tome, encapsulating centuries of Indian and Pakistani history, inspires awe. But some of its
Published 10 Nov, 2024 10:06am
The memoirs of a decorated army officer’s wife describes the idiosyncrasies of military life, the glamour of travel, and also the
Published 10 Nov, 2024 10:02am
A coffee-table book by a celebrated potter and ceramist delves into the art of earthenware across Pakistan and the artisans behind
Published 10 Nov, 2024 09:45am
Since my last column about Saadat Hasan Manto’s story ‘Tamasha’, I came across his sketch ‘Hindi Aur Urdu’ (1954). Then I read
Published 10 Nov, 2024 09:41am
Yet another book on the late leftist leader Meraj Muhammad Khan is a comprehensive look at his life and struggles, bringing
Published 03 Nov, 2024 10:53am
A debut novel by a Pakistani civil servant, based on the realities of Pakistani society, has hints of autobiographical details...
Published 03 Nov, 2024 10:33am
Blending humour, personal anecdotes and correctives on history, an engaging autobiography offers a roadmap to those let down by
Published 03 Nov, 2024 10:26am
The prolific and leading English author from the past century E.M. Forster famously wrote: “Two cheers for...
Published 03 Nov, 2024 10:16am
William Dalrymple’s latest book is a treat of expansive history, providing fresh insights into the westward and eastward expansion
Published 27 Oct, 2024 09:55am
A self-help book challenges readers to think about living a more satisfying life that goes beyond the mere accumulation of wealth
Published 27 Oct, 2024 09:50am
Abubakar Sheikh’s latest book brings travel-writing in Urdu into full form, showcasing history, geography and ecology into...
Published 27 Oct, 2024 09:45am
While conducting storytelling sessions at schools, I am often requested for stories with morals. I can understand the concern
Published 27 Oct, 2024 09:41am
Yuval Noah Hariri’s latest book delves into how information systems have shaped human destiny, the role of artificial intelligence
Published 20 Oct, 2024 07:41am
Taha Kehar’s sophomore novel is a meticulously crafted story about a bizarre memorial service for a dead woman in which those...
Published 20 Oct, 2024 07:37am
A new cookbook is not just a book of recipes, but a beautifully presented dive into a melting pot of different traditions...
Published 20 Oct, 2024 07:34am
The winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature is the first South Korean writer to receive the award
Published 20 Oct, 2024 07:28am
The United States invaded Iraq in March 2003. In The Achilles Trap, Steve Coll, a professor of journalism at Columbia University
Published 13 Oct, 2024 09:57am
An ambitious and informative book about the history, culture and politics of Sindh through the ages is not critically rigorous...
Published 13 Oct, 2024 09:47am
Explicit novel Icebreaker is under fire for its ‘misleading’ cover. A book designer explains — and reveals how covers work
Published 13 Oct, 2024 09:43am
Out of the three principal centres of Indo-Persian civilisation that evolved from a fusion of multiple Vedic and...
Published 13 Oct, 2024 09:32am
I grew up in a home lovingly filled with books; there were books in every room. Books defined who we were. My mother...
Published 06 Oct, 2024 09:30am
A new collection of poems by one of Pakistan’s foremost English poets utilises the genre of sonnet to muse about love, loneliness,
Published 06 Oct, 2024 09:30am
Fatima Ijaz inhabits the skin of a poet, but borrows a leaf from the prose writer’s handbook in her sophomore book, a moving me
Published 06 Oct, 2024 09:30am
A superbly engaging book penned by an Indian author provides the first-ever history of Pakistan women’s cricket, its
Published 06 Oct, 2024 09:30am
A debut novel from Pakistan revolving around multiple plotlines and characters caught in their own tragedies, showcases its author
Published 30 Sep, 2024 04:25pm
