Have I got a treat for those who prefer to celebrate their holidays in hard-boiled, rather than Hallmark, style....
Published 17 Dec, 2017 07:00am
When some flamboyant journalist or dim-witted commentator takes the stage and audaciously announces the futility of...
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
Malcolm X remains an enigma despite — or because of — what is written on him. Frequently speculative and often
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
Chaotic Heartbeats
Mahnoor Fatima
A collection of verses on the things that make us human; of...
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
Warning: vehicles may not be operated by the ‘wrong’ gender
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
A novel that describes settings more than character motivations
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
The great German poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is known for the fascination he held for Persian poetry, the ...
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
A debut novel that is self-assured in its storytelling and brings together time travel, love
and treasured culinary
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
Editor, translator and political activist, Ibrahim Joyo was ultimately a teacher and mentor who helped mould the minds
Published 10 Dec, 2017 07:01am
JOHN LE CARRÉ RECOMMENDS THE WORLD OF YESTERDAY BY STEFAN ZWEIGIf there’s any living writer who has truly...
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
Poet Farrukh Yar has given me a reason to reiterate my concerns about the demeaning of contemporary literary writing...
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
What does it mean to translate a majestic religious text into another language? A new book offers food for thought
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
As purists and technophiles battle over form, a reader points out that this conflict is age-old and at the end of the
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
The legendary Argentinean footballer speaks from the heart about his career, his challenges and that infamous
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
Alif Laila wa Laila was a collaborative effort, enlivened as much by its European and Indian translators as its original
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
I recently made a flying visit to Pakistan to attend a conference at the University of Sargodha, Mandi Bahauddin...
Published 03 Dec, 2017 07:08am
A new collection announces in no uncertain terms that the Urdu short story has arrived
Updated 03 Dec, 2017 09:57pm
The good life has had few poster children like the three women of The Unfinished Palazzo: Life, Love and Art in...
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
A once-forgotten novel from 1965 has surged in popularity in recent years. What’s so special about it?
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
A compassionate novel about what it means to be far from home
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
At the Annual Conference on South Asia held at the University of Wisconsin, a highlight for Urduwallahs used to be...
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
From roadside garbage to babudom, a journalist from India learns that despite the antagonism, the two countries
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
Naomi Klein writes on Trump’s triumph and the threat his presidency poses to people around the world
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
The life of a Pakistani communist and the full details about 1949’s Progressive Writers’ Conference
Published 26 Nov, 2017 06:58am
A much-deserved documentation of the high-altitude porters and mountaineers from Pakistan who all too often do not
Published 19 Nov, 2017 06:49am
A fascinating account of the history of Iranian music and its decline following 1979
Published 19 Nov, 2017 06:49am
Frantz Fanon enjoys a special place in the minds and hearts of thinkers and activists belonging to the developing...
Published 19 Nov, 2017 06:49am
A gorgeously produced coffee-table labour of love on nawabi cuisine enthrals with its anecdotes, history and recipes
Published 19 Nov, 2017 06:49am
Chilling and heartbreaking stories from a totalitarian regime that holds its nation in slavish subjection
Published 19 Nov, 2017 06:49am
A personal record that gives a glimpse into those aspects of Pakistan’s history on which authorised texts tend to remain
Published 19 Nov, 2017 06:49am
Novel-writing is a desperate struggle against the community imposed by the world. It is a fight against so-called...
Published 19 Nov, 2017 06:49am
Hollywood actress Rose McGowan’s memoir, Brave, is scheduled to be published by HarperCollins in January 2018.The...
Published 12 Nov, 2017 06:56am
The recent demise of Dina Wadia, the only child of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, reminded me of Lieutenant...
Published 12 Nov, 2017 06:56am
A British journalist spends a year studying Muslims in the United Kingdom
Published 12 Nov, 2017 06:56am
A fantasy novel with a heroine straight out of a nightmare
Published 12 Nov, 2017 06:56am
Farahnaz Ispahani’s 2015 book, recently published in Pakistan, documents discrimination against religious minorities,
Published 12 Nov, 2017 06:56am
At another time in another place, a writer complained in the preface to his novel.
Updated 13 Nov, 2017 11:47am
The recently concluded Sindh Literature Festival successfully jettisoned the baggage of previous festivals
Published 12 Nov, 2017 06:56am
Two compilations attempt to shed light on an intellectual giant
Published 12 Nov, 2017 06:56am
Recently I’ve been reading Lauren Elkin’s Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and...
Published 05 Nov, 2017 06:45am
A history of Pakistani English writing examines its origins and thematic interests from the 20th century onwards
Published 05 Nov, 2017 06:45am
In remembrance of the poet and scholar who lived and died a revolutionary anarchist
Published 05 Nov, 2017 06:45am
Peter Carey recommends The
Fictions of Bruno SchulzTwo-time Man Booker Prize winner Peter Carey’s recommendation...
Published 05 Nov, 2017 06:45am
Terry Eagleton, one of the leading cultural critics and literary scholars of our times, comments on Irish society in...
Published 05 Nov, 2017 06:45am
A new Revisionist history of Islam attempts to question the basic foundations of the religion, but is riddled with
Published 05 Nov, 2017 06:45am
An experimental novel about race, belonging and the loss of a mother
Published 05 Nov, 2017 06:45am
The military’s hold over Egypt is so absolute, and its corruption so endemic, its story beggars belief even for readers
Published 05 Nov, 2017 06:45am
It was a cold and misty Islamabad morning some 15 years ago when a friend wanted me to drive him to a posh...
Published 29 Oct, 2017 06:06am
Purporting to offer fresh insights on negotiations over Afghanistan, this book focuses on painting India as a major
Published 29 Oct, 2017 06:06am
Bikharta Samaaj: The Colombianization of Pakistan Farrukh Sohail Goindi Arguing that the breakdown of society
Published 29 Oct, 2017 06:06am
A poignant account of struggling with a life-changing health disorder
Published 29 Oct, 2017 06:06am
Ten thousand reincarnations to get it right — but if all you end up with is loss of individuality, what’s the difference
Published 29 Oct, 2017 06:06am
Late summer, 1991. On a break between teaching classes at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), I found...
Published 29 Oct, 2017 06:06am
Regional language poetry moves away from traditional settings and themes
Published 29 Oct, 2017 06:06am
The Man Booker Prize 2017 winner is an experimental debut about life, death and that which lies in between
Published 29 Oct, 2017 06:06am
Would you hire this guy?The candidate is hopeless with deadlines and alternates between undisciplined meandering and...
Published 22 Oct, 2017 07:01am
An anthology of stories from around the world depicts djinns via different cultural lenses
Published 22 Oct, 2017 07:01am
An authoritative account of how the world’s most wanted man managed to evade the greatest manhunt
Published 22 Oct, 2017 07:01am
Nikita Lalwani recommends In other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal MueenuddinNikita Lalwani’s first book, Gifted,...
Published 22 Oct, 2017 07:01am
Constantine P. Cavafy, regarded as the most distinguished Greek poet of the 20th century, largely draws upon ...
Published 22 Oct, 2017 07:01am
A contentious but thought-provoking book is marred by poor editing
Published 22 Oct, 2017 07:01am
Former Indian High Commissioner T.C.A. Raghavan charts the ups and downs of neighbourly relations
Published 22 Oct, 2017 07:01am
Allama Iqbal’s Tulip of Sinai – from A Message from the East (Payam-i-Mashriq) M. Hadi Hussain, Shireen Gheba Najib
Published 15 Oct, 2017 07:04am
Neither an obituary of Toheed Ahmed nor a review of his work, this column — appearing on his 70th birth ...
Published 15 Oct, 2017 07:04am
The 2017 Nobel Prize for literature goes to...
Published 15 Oct, 2017 07:04am
Historical fiction, ostensibly about Lady Mountbatten, sidelines her for the story of her fictional secretary
Published 15 Oct, 2017 07:04am
A debut fantasy novel draws readers into medieval Russia and manages to create empathy for women’s struggles
Updated 16 Oct, 2017 10:10am
What do I say? And what do I write? My eyes have lost their vision, and my heart its joy. Hands tremble, And my...
Updated 15 Oct, 2017 06:35pm
October 17 marks the bicentennial of the birth of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, who exerted a defining influence on Indian Muslim
Updated 17 Oct, 2019 12:04pm
A worthy sequel to a YA novel is heavier and darker than the first
Published 08 Oct, 2017 06:38am
A historical-materialistic approach analysing the Granth Sahib opens up new ways of reading the spiritual and cultural
Updated 16 Jan, 2020 11:27am
I recently met up with British-Pakistani author Qaisra Shahraz at her house in Manchester to discuss The Concubine...
Published 08 Oct, 2017 06:38am
An English translation of a well-known Urdu poet, novelist and short story writer’s autobiography captures
Published 08 Oct, 2017 06:38am
A stark exposition of the conditions of women prisoners in Pakistan and a brave teenager’s remarkable personal struggle
Published 08 Oct, 2017 06:38am
Dr Syed Qasim Jalal ka Adbi Safar: Nisf Sadi Ka Qissa Dr Sajjad Haider Parvez Written with the intent to provide
Published 08 Oct, 2017 06:38am
As we approach the second birth centenary of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, he is being criticised to the extent of being...
Published 08 Oct, 2017 06:38am
A pictorial of the multiple religions practiced in Pakistan is a reminder of how far we’ve strayed from our founder’s
Published 08 Oct, 2017 06:38am
Mohsin Hamid recommends Pereira Maintains by Antonio TabucchiExit West, Mohsin Hamid’s fourth novel about ...
Published 01 Oct, 2017 04:25am
Dao Paich M. Naeem Abrar A collection of articles on serious issues, yet written with a humorous slant, with such
Published 01 Oct, 2017 04:25am
Art has the large embrace and inherent capacity to divulge complex emotions. It can rise above the mundane to make ...
Published 01 Oct, 2017 04:25am
Commemorative stones of the Thar Desert tell long-forgotten tales of heroes, loyalty and valour
Published 01 Oct, 2017 04:25am
A story that depicts the strength of women and the desperate attempts to retain cultural identity in the face of erasure
Published 01 Oct, 2017 04:25am
A new translation presents a fully restored and uncensored version of a classic about Russian women who enlisted
Published 01 Oct, 2017 04:25am
Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks. One day, while strolling about in a dark wood, she...
Published 01 Oct, 2017 04:25am
Master storyteller Ismat Chughtai often strips away the rose-tinted hues with which
reminiscences of childhood
Published 01 Oct, 2017 04:25am
A pilgrimage to his soul made Karbala the voice of Iftikhar Arif’s expression
Published 01 Oct, 2017 04:25am
An imaginative debut that veers away from the tried and tested formula of Pakistani English-language fiction
Published 24 Sep, 2017 06:42am
I have been exploring Goethe’s concept of ‘world literature’ for a while. The questions Goethe raised become...
Published 24 Sep, 2017 06:42am
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Paul Auster’s latest novel is his magnum opus, but is a dense and cerebral book
Published 24 Sep, 2017 06:42am
Far from a hagiography, an American historian’s latest book on Emperor Aurangzeb explodes widely held myths about
Published 24 Sep, 2017 06:42am
Lately it has become fashionable for the affluent and the nouveau riche in metropolitan Pakistan to mock and...
Published 24 Sep, 2017 06:42am
A snapshot of mountain crafts before urbanisation seeps in
Published 24 Sep, 2017 06:42am
A translation of Bertolt Brecht’s poetry seasons universal thoughts with local flavour
Updated 25 Sep, 2017 01:57pm
Half a century ago, a competition for a first book of poems, to be judged by W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender, for...
Published 17 Sep, 2017 07:01am
What could have inspired the personal assistant of a stage actor in the Victorian era to pen one of the most ...
Published 17 Sep, 2017 07:01am
“Well, people from your part of the world spend their weekends in London watching cheap Bollywood thrillers at ...
Published 17 Sep, 2017 07:01am
A collection of diverse ideas on India shows that common ground between India and Pakistan is still very substantial
Published 17 Sep, 2017 07:01am
Amjad Ali Khadim’s collection of poems addresses the turmoil of the present world
Published 17 Sep, 2017 07:01am
An inventive crime thriller that blurs the line between legality and moral question
Published 17 Sep, 2017 07:01am
