NON-FICTION: MANTO UNVARNISHED
A translated collection of articles by fellow writers, publishers and relatives about arguably the greatest short story
NON-FICTION: AN EXPLORER’S JOURNEY
An autobiography traces an exhilarating life spent in a ceaseless struggle to know, discover and inform
FICTION: THE POETRY OF A LIFE
A debut novel from a celebrated poet shows glimpses of the gorgeous and original imagery and the elliptical and
COLUMN: JALLIANWALA BAGH: 100 YEARS ON
Dr Rakhshanda Jalil is one of those rare language scholars and literary translators who have an exceptional command...
NON-FICTION: ROY’S NEAR-FERAL HOWL
Arundhati Roy is a fiction writer reacting to the world around her with facts, which is why her words have the effect
NON-FICTION: THE UNDIPLOMATIC DIPLOMAT
A former career diplomat’s autobiography is full of sometimes hilarious and sometimes depressing anecdotes about
LITBUZZ: THE BOOKER PRIZE CATCH-UP
The 2019 Booker Prize for Fiction will be announced on Oct 14, 2019. Here’s a quick recap of the shortlist to know...
FESTIVAL: CREATING SPACE FOR OPEN DISCOURSE
The most striking feature of the 6th Islamabad Literature Festival was that it provided a forum for open debate and bold
FICTION: SUPERFICIAL SATIRE, FLEETING FUN
Despite the author’s considerable linguistic ability and acerbic wit, a very odd type of nervousness pervades this
NON-FICTION: A PRICELESS SINDH HERITAGE
One may not agree with the author’s treatise about its origins, but the superb photography and historical context
COLUMN: GHALIB’S FAVOURITE GHAZAL
In the course of my journey with Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib’s Divans, I noticed how he carefully chose verses ...
ESSAY: DORTMUND HAS DISHONOURED ITS OWN PRIZE
The withdrawal of the Nelly Sachs Prize to Kamila Shamsie devalues the prize itself, rather than diminish the stature
NON-FICTION: HOW TO FIX CRICKET
A book takes the hot-button topic of match-fixing in cricket and handles it with great dexterity, providing tremendous
NON-FICTION: ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS
An insightful writer contemplates knowledge that cultivates wisdom, as opposed to the mere accumulation of information
COLUMN: PEER AND ROY’S KASHMIRS
This August, the Hindu right-wing leader Narendra Modi provocatively revoked India-held Jammu and Kashmir’s (IHK)...
BOOKS IN BRIEF
The Key to the American Constitution
Ali Tahir
According to the author, a barrister from Lincoln’s Inn, law...
FICTION: A BULWARK AGAINST SECULAR ART
Umera Ahmed’s latest novel is all about simplistic binaries and the rejection of the world in
favour of the author’s
FICTION: AGAINST THE ODDS
Despite sometimes mawkish dialogue and a lack of character development beyond its protagonists, a novel attempts
NON-FICTION: THE TAINTED VOTE
In the absence of a truly free press, a journalist lets readers draw their own conclusions about the 2018 elections
COLUMN: THE NOWHERE MEN
As I drove through the unfamiliar suburb of Acton on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I was thinking how London, with its...
FICTION: A MOST REMARKABLE DEBUT
A novel by a first-time writer and set in the bleak and wintry landscape of Kamchatka is unlike anything else recent