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
Abubaker Sheikh stands apart from the run-of-the-mill Urdu travel writers in Pakistan. Like the best writers, his lates...
Published 30 Aug, 2020 08:35am
Sometimes, reading a chance remark that asserts a surprising claim persuades us to reread a text to see if we’d...
Published 23 Aug, 2020 07:15am
A new book provides a historical perspective on what to expect from US-Indo relations vis-a-vis a rising China...
Published 23 Aug, 2020 07:15am
A story of two families divided by race but united by tragedy, that takes an unflinching look at the repercussions of racism...
Published 23 Aug, 2020 07:15am
August 21 is the 13th anniversary of the death of Qurratulain Hyder, often dubbed ‘the doyenne of Urdu writers.’ Her niece...
Published 23 Aug, 2020 07:15am
The potion people were given to consume over the decades was prepared by evenly mixing the majority faith...
Published 16 Aug, 2020 07:02am
Delhi-based writer and activist Sadia Dehlvi passed away on Aug 5, at the age of 63, after...
Published 16 Aug, 2020 07:02am
A former British prosecutor’s memoir offers an inspiring account of fighting racism, misogyny and systemic injustice...
Published 16 Aug, 2020 07:02am
A shape-shifting novel traverses band culture, sociology and politics to paint a sprawling picture of the United States over...
Updated 17 Aug, 2020 12:03pm
How interesting, it is a text that begets aesthetic expressions in the sphere of visual creativity. Today, the several hundred...
Updated 09 Aug, 2020 07:29am
Despite his credentials as a conservative, religious scholar, Deputy Nazir Ahmad too fell victim to charges of blasphemy and...
Published 09 Aug, 2020 06:42am
Shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, a historical novel attempts to take us inside the family life of the greatest...
Updated 09 Aug, 2020 12:44pm
A superb new book about a remarkable family of scholars fills in an important gap in our society’s spiritual, intellectual...
Updated 10 Aug, 2020 11:57am
Amazing similarities between London of 1665 and New York City of 2020 are evidenced in Daniel Defoe’s classic book documenting...
Updated 31 Jul, 2020 07:30am
A cultural collaboration between the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations and Nestle, this beautifully...
Updated 31 Jul, 2020 07:30am
Longing for anywhere else but the place I’m in is a feeling I’m deeply familiar with. During the lockdown it becomes more...
Updated 31 Jul, 2020 07:30am
August 1 was the 20th death anniversary of revolutionary Urdu poet Ali Sardar Jafri, who was influenced by both Marx and Iqbal...
Updated 31 Jul, 2020 07:30am
A collection of interlinked short stories about the residents of an apartment block explores the intricacies of modern lives...
Updated 31 Jul, 2020 07:30am
One silver lining of the ongoing travel restrictions is that staying home has let me catch up with some reading....
Published 26 Jul, 2020 07:10am
A Turkish-origin scholar traces the stagnation of the Muslim world to the primacy of the ulema-state alliance...
Published 26 Jul, 2020 07:10am
A Booker Prize-longlisted author summons her younger self to write a semi-fictionalised autobiography...
Published 26 Jul, 2020 07:10am
Stephen Fry’s entertaining follow-up book about Greek legends features heroes who have made a far more indelible name for the...
Published 26 Jul, 2020 07:10am
A book that takes readers back to a time when Karachi was a cleaner, less crowded, spacious and better kept city. The author...
Published 26 Jul, 2020 07:10am
It seems that the world has finally begun to follow us. As has happened to Pakistan for decades unending — with a...
Published 19 Jul, 2020 06:46am
A book challenges our understanding of how people identified themselves before the advent of nation-states...
Published 19 Jul, 2020 06:46am
Pervez Tahir’s monograph on an influential but controversial economist offers insights into some key issues in developme...
Published 19 Jul, 2020 06:46am
An English rendition of some of the Kashmiri folk tales captures the colloquial textures of the Kashmiri language and brings to...
Published 19 Jul, 2020 06:46am
Why are the country’s English-language fiction writers more celebrated abroad than at home?...
Published 12 Jul, 2020 06:58am
A co-written Young Adult novel challenges stereotypes, of young people as politically apathetic, of inter-cultural...
Published 12 Jul, 2020 06:58am
A serving general presents a largely fair and balanced view of Pakistan’s ongoing issues in its largest province and suggests...
Published 12 Jul, 2020 06:58am
But, for the unquiet heart and brain, A use in measured language lies; The sad mechanic exercise, Like dull...
Updated 12 Jul, 2020 07:28pm
At first glance, the title Collect Moments, Not Things: Ideas and Inspiration for Creating a Life to Remember by...
Published 05 Jul, 2020 07:04am
A compilation of Sadequain’s artistic interpretations of Mirza Ghalib’s poetry delights...
Published 05 Jul, 2020 07:04am
A book of essays presents the other side of the story, heart-warming and funny accounts
of women evading the pressures of...
Published 05 Jul, 2020 07:04am
Striking paintings and poignant prose bring to life the true story of a young couple’s struggles through 20th century China...
Published 05 Jul, 2020 07:04am
In an unpublished essay composed some 10 years ago, titled ‘The Sycorax Syndrome’, English poet Christopher Middleton
Published 28 Jun, 2020 06:56am
Stuck at home? Struggling to write? A virtual world beckons you to stories and the craft of storytellers
Published 28 Jun, 2020 06:56am
A former Indian civil servant’s book on Balochistan is among the most well-researched and balanced books on the subject
Published 28 Jun, 2020 06:56am
While it skimps on magical realism and psychological tone, Ta-Nehisi Coates’s first book of intricate historical fiction
Published 28 Jun, 2020 06:56am
Asif Farrukhi left us. When I heard the news from my younger sister, it seemed to me that the whole realm of being had come to a grinding halt...
Published 14 Jun, 2020 06:16am
Many subcultures use secret languages to create cohesion within the community and to keep themselves safe from outsiders...
Published 14 Jun, 2020 06:16am
S.M. Shahid’s pen sketches provide insight into individuals who have enriched the non-political, non-religious, softer...
Published 14 Jun, 2020 06:16am
Edward Snowden’s autobiography fills the gap in the narrative about him, and his disclosures about government digital...
Published 14 Jun, 2020 06:16am
Jameel Akhtar’s book on the towering literary icon Qurratulain Hyder showcases years of diligent research...
Published 07 Jun, 2020 06:55am
A desi romance novel almost manages to pull off a genre most South Asian writers do not venture into...
Published 07 Jun, 2020 06:55am
Asif Farrukhi, who passed away on June 1, was more than just a fiction writer, an essayist, a critic, a translator or a literary festival organiser. He was truly a giant of global literature...
Published 07 Jun, 2020 06:55am
“All writers live in a dolphin-like progression, above and below the waterline, of isolation and intense...
Updated 08 Jun, 2020 03:59pm
Tourism is one of the industries hit hardest by this coronavirus pandemic. Experts predict that foreign travel may...
Published 31 May, 2020 01:38pm
Former BBC and FT correspondent Kim Ghattas traces the current problems of the Middle East to three key events from 1979...
Published 31 May, 2020 01:38pm
Afzal Ahmed Syed has done great service to our literary heritage by excavating and translating vintage couplets from often unfairly dismissed poets...
Published 31 May, 2020 01:38pm
