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
Karachi Literature Festival’s Urdu segment had fresh elements this year that needed better treatment to be as effective
Published 18 Feb, 2018 06:38am
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
