LAHORE, June 25: Urdu journalism is not publishing reviews on the literature being produced in the (Urdu) language and this trend will fail to encourage the writers and inculcate passion among people for book reading.

Noted writers and poets shared the opinion at the launch of Dr Amjad Parvez’s book “Rainbow of Reflections” at Alhamra Hall here on Saturday. “The reviews on Urdu literature are available in the English dailies. No-one seems willing to patronise Urdu literature,” they said.

Intizar Husain said today Urdu dailies did not publish reviews on Urdu books. He said in the past a lot more was written about the Urdu literature, music, theatre and film.

He lauded Dr Parvez’s efforts towards publishing a book which carries thorough reviews of 150 books, many of them of Urdu literature. “How can people be motivated to buy the books without informing them about these,” he said.

An engineer by profession, Dr Parvez is a versatile singer and was awarded Pride of Performance in 2000. His new book comprises reviews of 150 books published between 2006 and 2011 in different languages. Shafqat Tanvir Mirza, Prof Khwaja Muhammad Zakariya, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Bushra Ijaz, Khalid Mahmood, Mushtaq Hashmi, Amir Bin Ali, Abbas Tabish and Sarfraz Syed also spoke. — Staff Reporter