A novel centred on video games and gamers is actually about friendship and the power of complex connections
Published 21 May, 2023 08:02am
The hospital twinkles with lights, like a beacon dispelling the darkness of the winter morning. The lobby sparkles. A steady...
Published 21 May, 2023 07:58am
Anthropologist Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro’s latest erudite book will pique the interest of local and foreign scholars and interested...
Published 14 May, 2023 08:17am
A Youtuber picks 50 books from a diverse range of genres and summarises their content in a conversational way for those...
Published 14 May, 2023 08:17am
Athar Tahir returns to fiction with a debut novel about an ageing bureaucrat falling in love with a much younger Thai woman
Published 14 May, 2023 08:17am
If someone forgets to listen to the votive tale after a prayer has been answered, something can likely go wrong. However, if...
Published 14 May, 2023 08:17am
A translation into English of a spectacular 19th century poem provides important insights in South Asia’s cultural and literary...
Published 07 May, 2023 08:08am
A play by a noted Pashto poet and playwright is a tribute to a soul who enlightened Pakhtuns with the light of political...
Published 07 May, 2023 08:01am
Bestselling American author Peter Swanson’s latest novel is a fast-paced murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie
Published 07 May, 2023 07:54am
The Institute of Historical and Social Research (IHSR), Karachi — set up by progressive activist-turned-philanthropist Dr Tariq...
Published 07 May, 2023 07:50am
A revised and enlarged second edition of a book looks at the reasons why federalism has been a feature of each of the country’s...
Published 30 Apr, 2023 08:40am
Academic, creative writer and poet Najeeba Arif’s latest book, Junoobi Aeshiai Musalmanon Ka Tassavvur-i-Maghrib: Attharveen Sadi
Published 30 Apr, 2023 08:35am
Rana Safvi’s translation of Khwaja Hasan Nizami’s documentation of what befell Mughal royalty after the First War of Independence
Published 30 Apr, 2023 08:30am
Late last Sunday evening I was browsing Netflix for a good film to watch when, to my surprise, I found a screen adaptation of one
Published 30 Apr, 2023 08:23am
Renowned erstwhile PTV newscaster Mahpara Safdar’s autobiography is a must for those interested in the events of the 1970s and ’80
Published 22 Apr, 2023 07:14am
The fast pace and suspenseful atmosphere of J.K. Rowling’s sixth pseudonymous detective novel makes it very entertaining in spite
Published 22 Apr, 2023 07:14am
Many congratulations on winning the Writers’ Guild Award for The Return of Faraz Ali, a riveting, carefully structured novel...
Published 22 Apr, 2023 07:14am
The Uighurs — Turkic Muslims of China’s Xinjiang province, also known as East Turkestan — suffer from a covert but aggressive..
Published 22 Apr, 2023 07:14am
A fascinating book asks that, if justice is an intrinsic value in Islam, why have women been treated as second-class citizens in
Published 16 Apr, 2023 08:58am
A debut novel sensitively explores multi-generational relationships, needs, expectations and obligations and the impact of...
Published 16 Apr, 2023 08:53am
Commemorating Mir Taqi Mir, the undisputed master of Rekhta, in the 300th year of his birth
Updated 18 Apr, 2023 03:31pm
American author and humorist Mark Twain once said that he never let his schooling interfere with his education. Likewise, Albert
Published 16 Apr, 2023 08:35am
A selection of editorials, analyses and interviews published in a long-defunct leftist journal from London presents not only a...
Published 09 Apr, 2023 07:57am
The latest bestselling novel from a Canadian author comes across almost as a beach read, but it is a page-turner that provokes...
Updated 11 Apr, 2023 11:01am
A lyrical collection of essays about the region’s history, culture and myths presents complex and layered humans engaged in...
Published 09 Apr, 2023 07:46am
I got hooked on American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan’s music in May 2021. Ammi and Abbu had passed away, one after...
Published 09 Apr, 2023 07:38am
Conspiracy theories now dominate the mainstream. Two British journalists provide a quick and entertaining primer to this topsy
Published 02 Apr, 2023 09:18am
Former banker-turned-entrepreneur Nadeem Hussain’s memoirs illustrate his belief that great achievement comes from bold visions
Published 02 Apr, 2023 09:15am
Photographer Qamar Bharoocha Bana offers a personal lens on a complex city, helping document its many hidden cultural treasures
Published 02 Apr, 2023 09:10am
The urs [death anniversary] of the sonorous Sufi poet of the 18th-19th century, Sachal Sarmast, starts in just a few...
Published 02 Apr, 2023 08:20am
Zoha Waseem takes an empathetic look at the colonial structures and subpar conditions that constrain the development...
Published 26 Mar, 2023 07:20am
It’s that time of the year again when women of Pakistani nationality and/or heritage are invited to pour their...
Published 26 Mar, 2023 07:18am
A sociologist attempts to grapple with the immense emotional and intellectual strain Covid-19 virus put humankind through,...
Published 26 Mar, 2023 07:18am
A Pakistani comic book takes on the responsibility of providing a homegrown action icon, as well as encouraging reading among...
Published 26 Mar, 2023 07:18am
It is not essential for a creative artist to be politically active. But it is essential for any artist of significance to be...
Published 26 Mar, 2023 07:18am
A reissue of the first novel in a Japanese hitmen trilogy is almost film noir in word form: complicated at the beginning, puzzling
Published 19 Mar, 2023 08:22am
A book by an international lawyer tells an appalling tale of British imperialism and the mendacity, hypocrisy and racism of...
Published 19 Mar, 2023 08:16am
An art historian urges readers to take her out-of-the-box book as a means to rethink what is feminist in the cultural context of
Published 19 Mar, 2023 08:12am
‘Constriction’ is a multivalent word. It holds in its depths a slew of emotions. It is like a tight knot of feelings inside your
Published 19 Mar, 2023 08:02am
Ilhan Niaz’s book paints a grim picture of human beings’ future on Earth, but also argues that this pessimistic realism is exactly
Published 12 Mar, 2023 08:53am
Nestled within a sappy romance that makes a novel almost unbearable at times, is a gritty, worthwhile and page-turning mystery
Published 12 Mar, 2023 08:46am
Sudanese-Scottish writer Leila Aboulela’s sixth novel, River Spirit, maintains the high standards set by her...
Published 12 Mar, 2023 08:41am
One of Punjab’s most revered folktales, the love story of Heer and Ranjha, turned into a great epic when, in the 18th century,...
Published 12 Mar, 2023 08:21am
Sri Lankan novelist Shehan Karunatilaka won the 2022 Booker Prize for his novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, about a mu...
Published 05 Mar, 2023 07:13am
American artist, writer and translator Daisy Rockwell has translated several works of modern classical Urdu and Hindi lite...
Updated 05 Mar, 2023 10:13am
Earlier this year, organisers of the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) announced a contest for young,...
Published 05 Mar, 2023 07:13am
The second Peshawar Literature Festival thematically focused on the power of
storytelling to build a more inclusive society
Published 05 Mar, 2023 07:13am
Author of nine books and four plays, South African writer Damon Galgut won the 2021 Booker Prize for his novel The Promise — a...
Updated 26 Feb, 2023 11:26am
In a sequel to the hugely popular ‘chick-lit’ novel It Ends With Us, the author satisfies her audience’s desire for romance...
Published 26 Feb, 2023 07:58am
London-based writer Moni Mohsin has long been sending readers into fits of laughter with her stories and characters that brim with
Published 26 Feb, 2023 07:52am
The United States-based magazine Clarkesworld — one of the rare paying publishers of science fiction and fantasy...
Published 26 Feb, 2023 07:45am
Amjad Islam Amjad, who passed away February 10, was, in the jargon of mushaira organisers, a ‘crowd-puller’. His immense...
Published 19 Feb, 2023 08:50am
The third book by a pioneer in vernacular travel writing is a cry from the heart about environmental degradation, and also an...
Published 19 Feb, 2023 08:42am
Andrea Wulf traces the birth of Romanticism to a small town in Germany and explains complex ideas in simple and seductive prose
Published 19 Feb, 2023 08:36am
In South Asia, where women are often subjected to a lot of pressure, climate change is also an urgent problem....
Published 19 Feb, 2023 08:28am
On Sept 23, 1973, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda passed away from prostate cancer and malnutrition. At least, that was the reason given
Published 19 Feb, 2023 08:19am
A former military man delves into Pakistan’s strategic culture and thinking with reference to India. The book is likely to remain
Published 12 Feb, 2023 09:47am
Celebrated Native American author Louise Erdrich’s latest novel is a book about books, about history read, written and created in
Published 12 Feb, 2023 09:42am
Tahmima Anam’s latest, futuristic novel is about technology, ambition, creativity, business and tornado-like undercurrents of...
Published 12 Feb, 2023 09:37am
“Itna fresh Urdu shayar main ne nahin parrha” was the impromptu comment made — in an ecstatic tone with a lilt...
Published 12 Feb, 2023 09:33am
In a best-selling, award-winning novel, translations that move ideas across cultures also enable the supremacy of an invading,
Published 05 Feb, 2023 08:15am
The final instalment of a collaborative novel trilogy by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar is an exhilarating ride that will appeal
Published 05 Feb, 2023 08:15am
An economist synthesises the political economy of gender relations in India with female fans of the Bollywood star
Published 05 Feb, 2023 08:15am
“Like most people, I read a book or two on holiday,” says Stuart, a character in Julian Barnes’s 1991 novel...
Published 05 Feb, 2023 08:15am
The first half of the book — a collection of columns that have previously appeared in various publications — is dedicated to..
Published 05 Feb, 2023 08:15am
A tribute to the late journalist and activist Ahfazur Rahman casts a wide net, encompassing his struggles for media ind...
Published 29 Jan, 2023 06:23am
A former Indian diplomat, academic, historian and analyst attempts to make sense of the dynamics that have made the Middle Eas...
Published 29 Jan, 2023 06:23am
A collection of short stories examines girlhood and womanhood with tenderness, originality and genuine wit
Published 29 Jan, 2023 06:23am
Experts tell us there are at least 200 versions of the text in more than 50 languages. However, standard accounts of the fable’...
Updated 30 Jan, 2023 10:03am
A much-praised novel by Katie Kitamura does not disappoint, its writing restrained, understated and subtle, yet packing a big
Published 22 Jan, 2023 08:58am
A debut novel takes on the hapless fate of streetwalkers who are exploited by the very law enforcers who should be protecting them
Published 22 Jan, 2023 08:51am
A political scientist deconstructs the work of the Council of Islamic Ideology and how it fits into Pakistan’s ‘Islamisation’
Published 22 Jan, 2023 08:43am
There was a time — not very long ago — when students, labour, journalists and a representative segment of...
Published 22 Jan, 2023 08:30am
In November 2020, former president of the United States, Barack Obama, released his memoir A Promised Land. According to...
Published 22 Jan, 2023 08:23am
A book on the Royal Indian Navy mutiny of 1946 is a compellingly good read for connoisseurs of South Asian history in general, and
Published 15 Jan, 2023 07:11am
An Urdu translation of one of the masterpieces of mountaineering and exploration work is as much a reader’s delight as the...
Published 15 Jan, 2023 07:04am
Prelude: I have been trying to write my lived experience of a heart attack for over a month now. But words didn’t flow.
Published 15 Jan, 2023 06:59am
So many of us — women, especially — would nod in agreement at a grandmother admonishing a young girl to tie back her hair at...
Published 15 Jan, 2023 06:56am
A new book traces the stories of the Sherpas in Nepal, who have been providing invaluable assistance to international mountaine...
Updated 18 Jan, 2023 05:17pm
Huma Abedin’s autobiography can be split into a retelling of the writer’s personal and professional lives. The former is heart...
Published 08 Jan, 2023 07:42am
A new novel is an attention-grabbing examination of the subtext of H.G. Wells’s classic The Island of Dr Moreau and a shapeshi...
Published 08 Jan, 2023 07:42am
The repetition of the theme over centuries reveals it to be a major preoccupation of our literature.
Published 08 Jan, 2023 07:42am
An excellent biography of scholar and freedom fighter Bahadur Yar Jang, who achieved so much in the short 39 years that nature...
Published 01 Jan, 2023 08:59am
A debut novel with a memorable storyline offers a poignant study of the secrets women keep to survive and the perils that could...
Published 01 Jan, 2023 08:54am
Merging the personal and the public, this highly readable book will appeal to serious academics and to shrine culture’s die-har...
Published 01 Jan, 2023 08:50am
It may not have been so in the past — perhaps because of the well-rounded scholarship of the literary stalwarts...
Published 01 Jan, 2023 08:45am
An anthropologist examines Pakistan’s jails and their history, mainly through the eyes of the incarcerated
Published 25 Dec, 2022 07:15am
Novelist Charlotte Brontë was devastated when her sister Emily died from tuberculosis on December 19, 1848....
Published 25 Dec, 2022 07:15am
The translation of Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai’s Pashto autobiography into English will allow a wider readership to appreciate...
Published 25 Dec, 2022 07:15am
A beautifully written novel set in the 18th century that encompasses two journeys, one about a physical sojourn across cont
Published 25 Dec, 2022 07:15am
An excellent new book about the defiant teenager Ahed Tamimi illuminates Palestinian children’s experiences under Israeli...
Published 18 Dec, 2022 04:40am
Nasir Abbas Nayyar is a scholar whose style is becoming clearer by the day, as his newest book, applying modern critical the
Published 18 Dec, 2022 04:40am
An enjoyable thriller that’s very much a publication of this era. But it is no great work of literary fiction that will live on a
Published 18 Dec, 2022 04:40am
The causal link between environmental damage and pandemics during the Anthropocene is a recurring topic in books...
Updated 19 Feb, 2023 08:26am
Featuring adorably sweet illustrations by Namerah A. Khan, this simple book tackles a serious problem
Published 18 Dec, 2022 04:40am
Orhan Pamuk’s pseudo-historical detective story set on a fictional island in Ottoman times reminds us that the postmodern author’s
Published 11 Dec, 2022 11:13am
A monograph argues that Afghan refugees in Pakistan have transformed space into place, imbuing it with emotional, social and...
Published 11 Dec, 2022 11:07am
A treat for researchers, a book by a former vice admiral offers deep insight into Gwadar and Pakistan’s coastline for casual...
Published 11 Dec, 2022 10:59am
The story is set in an Irish town, during the Christmas season of the year 1985. The small community is dominated by the church.
Published 11 Dec, 2022 10:54am
