Imposed upon us by society, culture, tradition or simply the way we’ve been raised, long-held beliefs can be a stumbling block in
Published 27 Nov, 2022 06:19am
When I heard about the government banning the film Joyland — even after it was declared fit to be screened by ...
Published 20 Nov, 2022 07:00am
A movingly written and honest novel about how filial ties and embedded prejudice can jeopardise an interracial relationship
Published 20 Nov, 2022 07:00am
Maktaba-e-Danyal has published the complete works of the most eminent living Urdu poet and it is a special treat not just for the
Published 20 Nov, 2022 07:00am
In Mirza Athar Baig’s latest novel set in the mountains, valleys and caves of the Potohar region, nothing happens many times while
Published 20 Nov, 2022 07:00am
A debut novel frames its narrative as a detective story to explore power structures in Pakistan and the plight of sex workers
Published 13 Nov, 2022 08:37am
Celebrated Japanese author Sayaka Murata’s collection of short stories takes on outlandish concepts, but makes them believable...
Published 13 Nov, 2022 08:28am
Atif Tauqeer’s latest collection of poems is filled with a painful nostalgia for the poet’s native country and a longing to set it
Published 13 Nov, 2022 08:23am
Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib began and concluded his first collection of Urdu poetry — his Divan published in 1816 — with a
Published 13 Nov, 2022 08:08am
Usman T. Malik is on a roll, winning yet another accolade for his collection of short stories Midnight Doorways: Fables from...
Published 13 Nov, 2022 07:52am
Now in its fourth year, the Zeenat Haroon Rashid (ZHR) Writing Prize for Women is awarded to Saira Mahmood for her non-fiction...
Published 06 Nov, 2022 07:08am
This is a qissa of three ghosts, a history they wrote together, and another history or fiction yet to be fully written, which...
Published 06 Nov, 2022 07:08am
An unusual romance novel by a Nigerian author offers a poignant study of love and coming to terms with grief
Published 06 Nov, 2022 07:08am
A well-written debut novel casts an eye at the ugly realities of the lives of minorities in Pakistan and the exploitation of
Published 06 Nov, 2022 07:08am
An effortless read that can captivate readers with its textual and visual wealth, an arresting book on heritage documents 19...
Published 06 Nov, 2022 07:08am
Containing whirlwind romance, transportive imagery and plenty of food for thought, a well-crafted collection of retold Pakistani
Published 30 Oct, 2022 11:16am
A laudable attempt by a Pakistani writer to build a story based on a character’s inner life is let down by too many self-indulgent
Published 30 Oct, 2022 11:09am
Fisk’s Lebanon, Behr’s Imperial Japan and Junge’s and Schroeder’s Nazi Germany — all provide insight into nations at war
Published 30 Oct, 2022 11:03am
Yet another translation of the Qaseeda Burda Shareef [Ode of the Mantle], composed in Arabic by Imam Muhammad Sharafuddin
Published 30 Oct, 2022 10:55am
Through this study that gives a historical background to Pakistan’s megacity and its constantly changing social, economic...
Published 30 Oct, 2022 10:52am
Austrian Expressionist painter Egon Schiele broke a great many rules with his work, particularly propriety ones. Impassioned and
Published 23 Oct, 2022 07:16am
A book elucidates how violent suppression of dissent in postcolonial states is a direct result of the inherent violence of the
Published 23 Oct, 2022 07:16am
To deal with the terror of facing a blank page and having nothing to write upon it, writers over millennia have sought help from
Published 23 Oct, 2022 07:16am
An anthology brings together 22 writers’ experiences and writings on the culture of food in Muslim South Asia as well as their...
Published 23 Oct, 2022 07:16am
An anthology of 56 real-life stories of patients from different segments of society provides an insight into the lives of the...
Published 16 Oct, 2022 08:35am
Kate Mosse avoids the trap of complacently resting on her laurels, for her latest historical novel is every bit as well-researched
Published 16 Oct, 2022 08:29am
A respected historian gives various perspectives on the province’s ancient history, so readers can judge their veracity for...
Published 16 Oct, 2022 08:22am
Kamila Shamsie’s new novel Best of Friends begins as a love letter to Karachi, that city by the sea which the writer spent so much
Published 16 Oct, 2022 08:17am
A book attempts to present a sketch of capitalism in Pakistan, what form it takes, what class structure prevails in society...
Published 09 Oct, 2022 07:25am
A ground-breaking work is objective literature that rises above partisan subjectivity
Published 09 Oct, 2022 07:18am
It was in the 1990s that veteran social worker Sadiqa Salahuddin started working in the villages outside Khairpur...
Published 09 Oct, 2022 07:06am
For the past six years, The Salam Award for Imaginative Fiction has encouraged Pakistani short story writers to go...
Published 09 Oct, 2022 07:03am
Kamila Shamsie’s latest novel is a compelling work that, once again, exhibits her range, verve and her unrelenting ethical impulse
Published 02 Oct, 2022 06:49am
In an example of prudishness forcing critical insight, literary critic Farman Fatehpuri makes an interesting point in Urdu Ki...
Published 02 Oct, 2022 06:49am
Activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s first-ever book consists of writings he produced mostly in jail, which were subsequently smuggled
Updated 04 Oct, 2022 02:57pm
The author of Best of Friends — a novel about the dynamics of female friendships changing over a period of decades...
Published 02 Oct, 2022 06:49am
A scholarly work conveys the poeticism and richness of imagination, thought and emotion constituting the Urdu ghazal, along with a
Published 25 Sep, 2022 12:17pm
A novel about courage, family and the meaning of love in an atmosphere so clogged with misogyny, it’s a wonder that the characters
Published 25 Sep, 2022 12:07pm
An American author provides a simplified introduction to French thinker Rene Girard’s compelling insights into human desire
Published 25 Sep, 2022 12:00pm
What makes Kazmi unique is the dignity and the ever-so-soft aesthetic embodiment he gives to his pain.
Published 25 Sep, 2022 11:53am
Javed Jabbar’s latest memoir is a recounting of a turbulent period in Pakistan’s chequered political history and a now mostly...
Updated 27 Oct, 2022 05:52pm
A charming debut novel paints a personal investigation of grief, death, relationships and eating disorders with masterful
Published 18 Sep, 2022 09:12am
“In all of the eminent was the quality of a singularly uncritical era. It was a time when a prominent man could form himself on a
Published 18 Sep, 2022 08:56am
In this dictionary of sorts, the author gives simple explanations and meanings of social media terminology and internet-specific
Published 18 Sep, 2022 08:51am
A debut novel is an unfailingly honest coming-of-age story which examines adolescence, family, home and religion, all the while...
Published 11 Sep, 2022 06:12am
A new book reinforces Pakhtuns’ debt to Khushal Khan Khattak’s genius, for his immense literary and social contributions and for
Published 11 Sep, 2022 06:06am
A book is both a study and an analysis of Shaikh Ayaz’s famous Sindhi opera
Published 11 Sep, 2022 05:59am
We warmed up quickly to the charming brother. He mentioned the sama [meditation ceremony] of the whirling dervishes that happened
Published 11 Sep, 2022 05:54am
Building on more than a decade’s worth of experience as a leadership trainer and career coach, the author examines the myriad...
Published 11 Sep, 2022 05:50am
Moneeza Hashmi’s book is a debt of honour to Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s fans, who would have known nothing about the sentiments Faiz the...
Published 04 Sep, 2022 11:10am
Inaam Nadeem’s Urdu translation of an English translation of a Bengali language novel not only reads truer to the original, but
Published 04 Sep, 2022 11:05am
A reprint of a book about Alexander the Great’s campaigns in modern-day Pakistan is often speculative and can exasperate
Published 04 Sep, 2022 10:57am
Among the many curious and fantastic characters encountered in the world of classical Urdu literature, the kutni...
Published 04 Sep, 2022 10:54am
Originally written in Sindhi, this biography of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) has been translated into English by Dr Habibullah Siddiqui
Published 04 Sep, 2022 10:49am
A new collection of Urdu short stories by Julien Columeau often reads as character sketches of characters plucked from real life
Published 21 Aug, 2022 01:41pm
The verses of Allama Iqbal’s grandson achieve his objectives of interpreting, teaching, preaching and praising Iqbal via poems...
Published 21 Aug, 2022 01:37pm
Monica Ali’s fifth novel may not stay with readers for years to come, but it will definitely make them stop and think
Updated 22 Aug, 2022 10:39am
The present age has seen the decline and fall of Modernism which, having slowly begun to spread across Europe in the late 19th
Published 21 Aug, 2022 01:24pm
On Pakistan’s 75th anniversary, London-based research centre Bloomsbury Pakistan launched the Bloomsbury Book Prize with the...
Published 21 Aug, 2022 01:21pm
One of the finest facets of Mohsin Hamid’s body of fiction is its exuberant play with form. This experimentation ...
Published 14 Aug, 2022 05:12am
A book on Ruttie and Jinnah’s relationship is devoid of authenticity at several places and in contravention of historical facts
Published 14 Aug, 2022 05:12am
A new novel by Haroon Khalid Akhtar combines political satire, humour and wit and will no doubt remind the reader about parallels
Published 14 Aug, 2022 05:12am
While other biographies of the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah exist, a new book stands out with regard to three issues and for
Published 14 Aug, 2022 05:12am
A Pulitzer Prize-winning Canadian correspondent puts his own life in jeopardy to tell the story of his fixer fleeing from...
Updated 10 Aug, 2022 05:42pm
Arif Hasan’s engaging book about the history of Karachi, before its surrender to the British in 1839, is full of nuggets of...
Published 07 Aug, 2022 12:32pm
A book of essays inspired by Dr Ishrat Husain’s contributions provides good overviews of Pakistan’s economic situation
Published 07 Aug, 2022 12:26pm
In search of dusty old books that no one else had picked up from obscure shelves for many years, my classmate Robert...
Published 07 Aug, 2022 12:17pm
A gripping cultural anthropology of the development of cricket in the country places the game in the larger context of politics...
Published 31 Jul, 2022 12:13pm
Salman Haider’s verses shine a glaring light on the repression that the state doesn’t want people to talk about
Published 31 Jul, 2022 12:06pm
In a conversation with Eos, the dean of the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Lums...
Published 31 Jul, 2022 11:59am
I keep thinking of the youth with the two little rabbits, sitting by the side of the frenzied path on the boardwalk. The two...
Published 31 Jul, 2022 11:52am
Four books by Dr Anjum Altaf tackle with great insight the problems of, and misconceptions about, education in the country...
Published 24 Jul, 2022 10:22am
A third edition of H.T. Lambrick’s obsequious account of the life of another Englishman from the Raj drives home the inherent...
Published 24 Jul, 2022 10:14am
A debut book of short stories and a novella are evidence of the author’s incisive knowledge of the vast range of communities...
Published 24 Jul, 2022 10:07am
Her male-sounding name notwithstanding, British writer George Eliot (1819-1880) was a woman. Born Mary Ann Evans, she was a...
Published 24 Jul, 2022 10:00am
Regular Books & Authors columnist Zulfikar Ghose, who passed away end of June, was a towering man of letters and among the...
Published 17 Jul, 2022 01:59pm
A historical novel set within a murder-mystery genre is an entertaining read but its postcolonial ambitions are thwarted by an...
Published 17 Jul, 2022 01:53pm
Despite some limitations of its data and analysis, a book offers some interesting insights into the low level of tax collections
Updated 19 Jul, 2022 04:28pm
In the blurb he writes for Sajjad Azhar’s new book of prose poetry, Landi Kotal Ki Laaltain [The Lanterns of Landi Kotal], poet
Updated 17 Jul, 2022 07:18pm
The first Hindi language book to win the International Booker Prize is a ‘joyous cacophony’ that is given an English translation
Published 10 Jul, 2022 03:14am
The third edition of the Quetta Literary Festival — held after a two-year pandemic break — disabuses an observer of the notion...
Published 10 Jul, 2022 03:14am
Although a medical doctor, the author writes extensively on topics ranging from current affairs and history, to books, films...
Published 10 Jul, 2022 03:14am
Translation is an art. It gets more demanding when one is translating creative prose or poetry from one language into another.
Published 10 Jul, 2022 03:14am
A nostalgic journey through the streets and grounds that produced much of Pakistan’s cricketing talent and pioneered formats
Published 10 Jul, 2022 03:14am
An intimate chronicle of a crucial era in the Subcontinent — often painted as effete and decadent — reveals the intellectual...
Published 03 Jul, 2022 12:35pm
A debut novel set just before Partition is a riveting read about luxurious lifestyles, lavish parties and forbidden romance...
Published 03 Jul, 2022 12:29pm
Lynette Viccaji’s tribute to her gregarious and strong-willed parent is a linguistic delight best savoured over a long weekend
Published 03 Jul, 2022 12:24pm
She has raised her voice against injustices to women, yet in the title of her book — Mujhe Feminist Na Kaho! — she literally
Published 03 Jul, 2022 12:15pm
In a candid account, the former captain of Pakistan’s national cricket team tells the story of his life while setting straight...
Published 03 Jul, 2022 12:01pm
Gopi Chand Narang, who passed away on June 15, was a towering scholar who kept reiterating the secular, tolerant, inclusive...
Published 26 Jun, 2022 11:52am
A debut novel by a young Pakistani author is an eminently readable book about uncomfortable topics and a very good addition to
Published 26 Jun, 2022 11:40am
Gopi Chand Narang’s gem of a critical analysis of ‘Urdu’s first complete poet’ is translated into English for the first time
Published 26 Jun, 2022 11:21am
About 30 years ago, when I plunged into the ocean of Urdu fiction with the enthusiasm of someone learning to swim, I asked...
Published 26 Jun, 2022 11:16am
Over time, Pakistani writers have provided us with so much to read that we now have quite a library. But with the mass of content
Published 19 Jun, 2022 08:27am
Musharraf Ali Farooqi’s translation of an Urdu qissa is done with panache, but the joy of reading it in the original is unmatched
Published 19 Jun, 2022 08:27am
A publication of the incomplete last novel of the giant of Hindi/ Urdu literature tantalises and grips, but leaves the reader
Updated 20 Jun, 2022 01:57pm
An excellent and diverse collection of Balochi short stories, published along with their English translations, allows us a peek...
Published 19 Jun, 2022 08:27am
Tomb of Sand, written by Geetanjali Shree and translated by Daisy Rockwell, is the winner of the 2022 International...
Published 12 Jun, 2022 08:58am
I’m writing a book about literature, Covid, race and colonialism. During my research, I was deeply moved by Roopa...
Updated 13 Jun, 2022 12:14pm
