A debut novel has a strong idea spanning two plot lines and two time periods but desperately needed a strong editor as well
Published 08 Mar, 2026 10:27am
A coffee table book on Pakistan’s beloved sport brings together the printed and visual artefacts of the country’s cricketing...
Published 08 Mar, 2026 10:18am
In one of his most complex and deceptively crafted verses, Mirza Ghalib says that the poet’s pen vibrates with the frequency of...
Published 08 Mar, 2026 10:14am
Nadeem F. Paracha’s latest book explores contemporary populism by comparing three modern-day populist uprisings in the global...
Published 01 Mar, 2026 09:28am
The winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize 2025 is a debut novel by a Palestinian author about the complexities that lie at the heart of
Published 01 Mar, 2026 09:24am
The popularity of Jaun Elia’s deceptively simple verse, which has become all the rage with the youth, often obscures the depth...
Published 01 Mar, 2026 09:21am
Farhatullah Babar is known to us as a veteran politician, a legislator and a human rights defender. He is currently...
Published 01 Mar, 2026 09:15am
The 14th Lahore Literary Festival put its focus on history and in diversifying away from English but was impacted by scheduling
Published 22 Feb, 2026 06:45am
An elegantly structured novel, told through through the eyes of a young lad, is the first part of four interconnected novels...
Published 22 Feb, 2026 06:45am
A former journalist’s book on Princess Diana’s infamous 1995 Panorama interview with Martin Bashir expects readers to consider...
Published 22 Feb, 2026 06:45am
I grew up with Urdu poetry, learning to recite verses from ghazals as soon as I could talk. Words held only visual meanings for me
Published 22 Feb, 2026 06:45am
A book by a former chief economist at the State Bank of Pakistan critiques international aid and its deleterious impact on...
Published 15 Feb, 2026 07:41am
The 17th Karachi Literature Festival was fuelled by an unswerving, if wildly optimistic, belief in the transformative power of the
Published 15 Feb, 2026 07:38am
Ayesha Muzaffar’s latest offering strings together three novellas that will undoubtedly delight fans of the horror genre
Published 15 Feb, 2026 07:33am
There are many ways to go about writing one’s first novel, and here I would like to share how I went about writing...
Published 15 Feb, 2026 07:21am
A recent book argues Pakistan can leverage its strategic location and become an engine of trade and global growth, but seems...
Published 08 Feb, 2026 09:41am
Set in Swat during the rise of militant violence in the region in the mid-2000s, a debut novel wrestles with themes of patriarchy
Published 08 Feb, 2026 09:36am
From Kurram Valley to the World Bank’s corridors, a Pakistani internationalist retraces a global journey marked by discipline,...
Published 08 Feb, 2026 09:32am
In the recently published Urdu book of stories titled Tamasha-i-Ahl-i-Karam [The Circus of the Benevolent] by Dr...
Published 08 Feb, 2026 08:43am
Daniyal Mueenuddin’s much-anticipated first novel does not retreat from the terrain that made his reputation; it expands it.
Published 01 Feb, 2026 08:47am
Actor Michael J. Fox recounts how he managed playing Family Ties’ Alex P. Keaton by day and Back to the Future’s Marty McFly by...
Published 01 Feb, 2026 08:42am
A restrained first novel invites the reader to reflect on history, engage with an often-overlooked city, and witness a woman’s...
Published 01 Feb, 2026 08:38am
This year marks the centenary of Virginia Woolf’s essay ‘On Being Ill’, which still shapes how we read sickness
Published 01 Feb, 2026 08:31am
An Urdu book free of complex theoretical jargon and clearly intended for students combines conceptual discussions about the idea
Published 25 Jan, 2026 09:39am
A follow-up to one man’s recounting of whimsical stories from his life retains the original’s wit and nostalgic narration of an...
Published 25 Jan, 2026 09:33am
A slim collection comprising a novella and a number of short stories portray a search for beauty in a disintegrating world
Published 25 Jan, 2026 09:29am
Interviewing him in London many years ago, I asked Daniyal Mueenuddin what he was working on after his acclaimed...
Published 25 Jan, 2026 09:10am
Maha Khan Phillips’ fast-paced third novel is both historical fiction as well as a thrilling murder mystery and cements her
Updated 22 Jan, 2026 06:22pm
Maha Khan Phillips (nee Maha Khan) is a Karachi-born fiction writer and an award-winning financial journalist. She...
Published 18 Jan, 2026 06:44am
Mustansar Hussain Tarar returns to Paris after half a century and uses the city as a canvas to explore art, history, exile
Updated 02 Feb, 2026 03:40pm
A whimsical novel brings together an Indian prince from more than 2,000 years ago and a young woman from contemporary Karachi
Published 11 Jan, 2026 10:55am
A well-researched, first-ever critical look at the origins of the Gakkhars of Potohar and Jhelum region demolishes some well
Published 11 Jan, 2026 10:54am
A collection of 17 insightful Urdu short stories combines a matter-of-fact, almost journalistic clarity with underlying warmth
Published 11 Jan, 2026 10:52am
The American poet Cornelius Eady has co-founded the Cave Canem Foundation, a non-profit organisation that serves...
Published 18 Jan, 2026 06:44am
In the contemporary world of letters, infiltrated by brand and persona marketing, being a master of more than one...
Published 11 Jan, 2026 10:50am
A well-researched book by a well-known French scholar argues that Indian PM Narendra Modi used his rule in the state of Gujarat
Updated 04 Jan, 2026 09:12pm
A historical novel about murder, set at the time of WWI on board a British ocean liner eventually sunk by a German submarine
Updated 04 Jan, 2026 07:22am
Hollywood star Jeremy Renner’s memoir is about his miraculous recovery from a horrific accident but is also a meditation
Updated 04 Jan, 2026 07:21am
A hundred years ago, the poet Nasir Kazmi was born in Ambala on December 8, 1925; his contemporary, the fiction...
Updated 04 Jan, 2026 07:22am
In 1956, Walter Lang directed The King and I, a film from Hollywood set in 19th century Siam (Thailand), which was...
Published 28 Dec, 2025 05:06am
The late journalist Zubeida Mustafa’s last book, a conversation with a teenage niece, may be slender but is worth its weight
Published 28 Dec, 2025 05:06am
Kiran Desai’s Booker Prize-nominated latest novel is about the rough, messy, delicate and complex textures of everyday life
Published 28 Dec, 2025 05:06am
A very timely scholarly book moves beyond conventional depictions of conflict in Pakistan’s ‘merged districts’ to illuminate
Published 28 Dec, 2025 05:06am
Despite uneven editing, a debut collection of seven stories keeps readers engaged with believable characters and its storytelling
Published 21 Dec, 2025 07:04am
Former foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmed Khan’s memoirs are a chronicle, an apologia and a meditation — an effort to capture
Published 21 Dec, 2025 07:03am
This year, the world celebrates the 250th birth anniversary of Jane Austen — one of the world’s best-known and...
Published 21 Dec, 2025 07:03am
I have said this before and I repeat: Noon Meem Rashid is not an easy poet to capture in the reader’s cognitive...
Updated 21 Dec, 2025 11:15am
Anthologists and editors rarely receive the recognition they deserve in the literary world, considering how...
Published 14 Dec, 2025 05:35am
A compilation of declassified reports by three British governors of Sindh between 1937 and 1947 offers a treasure trove
Updated 15 Dec, 2025 03:40pm
‘It’s wanting to know that makes us matter’ — iconic playwright Tom Stoppard, who passed away November 29, made us all philosopher
Updated 15 Dec, 2025 03:35pm
A book by a philosopher advances neo-Socratic ethics as a guide for navigating life’s complexities, arguing that constant
Updated 21 Dec, 2025 07:22am
Most poets tend to repeat what has been felt and said in terms of content, be it experience or habitat. It takes immense confidenc
Updated 07 Dec, 2025 07:44am
An unjust characterisation leads an Albanian academic and author to research her maternal grandmother’s life and times
Updated 07 Dec, 2025 09:37am
A recent book is a long-overdue celebration of Karachi’s Non-Muslim cricketers and their enduring imprint on Pakistan’s cricketing
Updated 07 Dec, 2025 09:39am
A book by a scholar on Iran may be riddled with typical Western biases but is also surprisingly useful for those seeking
Updated 09 Dec, 2025 06:04pm
I first visited Hyderabad Deccan with my father just before I turned 13. I had a first cousin there whose children...
Published 30 Nov, 2025 06:41am
A recent biography resurrects the aura around Akhtar Shirani, one of Urdu’s most influential but often forgotten romantic poets
Published 30 Nov, 2025 06:41am
A debut novella offers a biting critique on the conventional wisdom that views relationships as antidotes to loneliness
Published 30 Nov, 2025 06:41am
Ten festivals in, the Adab Festival has settled into its own personality. It is dense, loud, packed, informal and full of people
Published 30 Nov, 2025 06:41am
I have written in these pages before about my forays into learning Urdu. Now I think through the need for mentors in...
Published 23 Nov, 2025 05:54am
David Szalay’s Flesh, which has won the Booker Prize this year, is a deeply affecting novel about masculinity
Published 23 Nov, 2025 05:54am
Writers Fatima Ijaz and Taha Kehar’s email correspondence with each other about a range of topics evokes a time long before email
Published 23 Nov, 2025 05:54am
Ghazi sahib’s fictional prose is remarkably creative, engaging and captivating, allowing it to still resonate with readers.
Updated 25 Nov, 2025 05:30pm
Celebrated author and activist Arundhati Roy attempts to come to grips with her complex relationship with her mother after her...
Published 16 Nov, 2025 07:41am
A sophomore novel about an ambitious and ruthless young woman trying to rise above poverty and confusing values captures womanhood
Published 16 Nov, 2025 07:38am
The Zeenat Haroon Rashid Writing Prize for Women has announced that the award for 2025 goes to writer Sidra Nisar ...
Published 16 Nov, 2025 07:32am
A knowledgeable treatise written in chaste Urdu attempts to explore scientific, philosophical and religious ideas about the place
Published 16 Nov, 2025 07:32am
Scholar, writer and researcher Dr Tariq Rahman has penned his highly enjoyable memoirs, which tell all about his and his family’s
Published 09 Nov, 2025 08:32am
