DURING 2015, a large number of novels were based around the sad picture of terrorism and the APS Peshawar school incident. One of these was Mustansar Hussain Tarar's story, 'Aye meray tarkhaan', of a man making small coffins of the children who died in the incident. The same concept was artistically presented by Hameed Shahid in his collection of short stories titled Iss Dehshat mein Wehshat.

The history of our country and times gone by is a source of inspiration for writers, too. There are so many various facets of the past that can be revisited.

The subject of the War of 1971 has been dwelt upon in Masud Mufti's Waqt Ki Qash, and Aqeela Ismail's novel Of Martyrs and Marigold. On a different subject, Dr Shah Mohammad Marri has educated us on the movement against colonialism in Balochistan and also the women's movement at the grassroots level in his book published this year. Two writers published novels this year based on the days of the British Raj; these are Mustansar Hussain Tarar with his Aey Ghazale Shab and Ali Akbar Natiq with his Nau Lakhi Kothi.

Many poetry collections have also been published this year, but the one I most enjoyed reading was the collection of US-based writer Ahmad Mushtaq Auraq-i-Khizani.

In a completely different style, Dr Aslam Farrukhi's writing in his book Saat Aasman gives us a reflection of the classic style of Urdu. And ultimately, I must say that the one work published during 2015 that stands out is the biography of artist Ali Imam penned by Sheen Farrukh. This is something to read for those interested in art, as well as beautiful writing.