In November last year, during a session about literature and language at the International Islamic University in... Published Jul 21, 2019 05:53am

Yesterday, from a table piled with my favourite books, I retrieved a translation of The Four Dervishes. I had ... Published May 12, 2019 07:02am

I arrived at Chennai airport from Dubai early on a mid-January morning to be greeted at immigration by a smiling... Published Mar 03, 2019 07:08am

They were born five years apart. Both Leos, both poets, prose writers, radicals. I had barely stopped mourning one... Published Dec 30, 2018 07:09am

At the age of 31, I read widely in about four languages: English, French, Italian and Spanish. By the age of 36 ... Updated Oct 15, 2018 02:24pm

When Shahbano Alvi, my friend and the publisher of my forthcoming book, asked me to give the first of a series of... Published Aug 05, 2018 07:28am

The tiny woman standing in front of me at the crowded reception turned around and said, “Hello, I’m Pat.” I... Published Jun 03, 2018 07:05am

On a cool February morning, I flew into Islamabad to speak at the Mother Languages Literature Festival at Lok Virsa... Published Apr 01, 2018 06:49am

One book I most enjoyed reading this year was a freshly translated selection of Ismat Chughtai’s short stories,... Published Dec 24, 2017 07:03am

Late summer, 1991. On a break between teaching classes at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), I found... Published Oct 29, 2017 06:06am

In August 2007, when smartphones and social media ‘connections’ weren’t ubiquitous, I returned to London from... Published Aug 27, 2017 07:00am

Last month the critic Boyd Tonkin, whom I have often worked with for about 25 years, wrote to ask me if I’d like ... Published Jul 02, 2017 06:58am

In ‘Muhabbat ka Bulava’ a young man falls in love with his friend’s sister and when his loved one’s very rich father Updated May 14, 2017 10:18am

In February 2007, Mai Ghoussoub — my publisher at Saqi Books and a very dear friend — rang me up in the morning... Updated Mar 19, 2017 08:35am

The ‘little voice’ from China, whose linguistic experiments aimed to dismiss the postcolonial legacy bequeathed upon Published Jan 15, 2017 08:22am

The true authorship of an Azerbaijani masterpiece comes up for debate, and the question of primary and secondary Published Dec 04, 2016 07:35am

Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch’s translations of works of Rumi and Allama Muhammad Iqbal include the first complete Published Aug 07, 2016 06:43am

On writers who manage to escape exoticism and stereotypes while working in an idiom entirely alien to the setting, Published Jun 12, 2016 07:38am

The past, with its secrets, myths and legends, was woven into Mrs Abdul Qadir’s tales of horror and mystery Updated Mar 13, 2016 07:05am

Reflections on literary festivals and fellow panellists Published Jan 03, 2016 07:59am