“THOSE who have money do not read and those who read do not have money,” was the mantra one of my friends used to utter whenever visiting a book fair and feeling depressed because of being unable to afford expensive books.
Had he been to some of the book fairs lately, he would have had a heart attack as an Urdu book now costs about two-and-a-half times more than it used to a couple of years ago. But ridiculously high prices of books was not the only trend that marked the year 2022 as there were some positive signs, too: reprinting the golden oldies and holding literary fests were in vogue.
As for expensive books, we are definitely not a nation of book lovers and prohibitively expensive books will badly hit the already feeble tendency to buy books, one feels, but one writer reporting on Karachi international book fair hit the nail on the head when she wrote that a large number of visitors were seen at bookstands but there were not many genuine buyers, although the area reserved at the exhibition hall for food was overcrowded and all the seats there were taken. Moral of the story: those who have money love burgers and panipuri more than they love books.
Looking at the reprints, some important and popular Urdu books were reprinted during the year and some government organisations, such as Iqbal Academy (Lahore) and National Language Promotion Department (Islamabad), reprinted some of scholarly works they had published earlier.
Some other publishers, such as, Book Corner, Jehlum, reprinted some popular titles. Shanul Haq Haqqee’s Artha Shastra — for instance — an Urdu translation of Chanakya’s famous treatise on politics and governance, was reprinted by Readings, Lahore. The trend points to the fact that there are still at least some readers of good works, no matter how expensive they are.
Another trend that caught the fancy of all and sundry during the year was to hold literary conferences and literary festivals. Several universities and cultural organisations arranged conferences, book fairs and festivals. It seemed that we were being compensated for the lull experienced during Covid-19.
Karachi Arts Council’s Urdu conference was, as usual, a resounding success, albeit in the end some delegates complained of fatigue since it was a four-day affair. Literary festivals organised by Oxford University Press (OUP) and some other entities in different cities and even small towns were other positive signs.
Coming to the new arrivals, a good many critical and research works were published. Aurangzeb Niazi’s Urdu Adab: Mahaulyati Tanazur, a critical work, explored a new dimension in Urdu literature as it discusses environmental issues as presented in Urdu literature. Saima Zeeshan’s Urdu Mein Islami Adab Ki Tehreek is a research study on the literary movement known as Islamic literature movement. Several books evaluating different genres in Pakistani Urdu literature’s 75 years were published by the Pakistan Academy of Letters.
Autobiographies, biographies and memoirs are the genres more popular among the general readers and last year too was quite fertile. Younus Javed is a well-known writer. His autobiography Faqat Aik Aansoo appeared. Maulana Jamaluddin Abdul Wahab Farangi Mahli’s biography was written in English by Francis Robinson. Khalid Nadeem rendered it into Urdu and it was published by OUP Pakistan. Inamul Haq Javed’s memoirs, as recorded in his diaries and titled Aina-i-Mah-o-Saal were published by Sang-i-Meel, Lahore.
Pen sketches are another popular genre in Urdu. Asgher Nadeem Syed, a renowned author, published Phirta Hai Falak Barson, his collection of delightful pen sketches many of which had appeared earlier in literary periodicals and had earned kudos. Younus Hasni’s Guhar Haa-i-Shab Chiraagh was published. It is a collection of pen sketches and he is now a few of those writers who write correct, idiomatic and elegant Urdu prose.
On language, linguistics and allied subjects quite a good works appeared in 2022. Khalid Hasan Qadri’s Alfaaz Ka Tilism was published by Karachi’s City Book Point. Lisaniyat: Aik Jame’ Taaruf, written by four educators and published by OUP is a comprehensive textbook on linguistics.
Arshad Mahmood Nashad’s Mubadiyaat-i-Bayan-o-Badee’-o-Arooz captures the essentials of prosody and rhetoric. Abrar Husian’s Urdu Behrain, a brief book that explains Urdu prosody in an easy style, was reprinted by National Book Foundation. Muzammil Husain’s PhD dissertation Urdu Mein Ilm-i-Bayan-o-Badee’ Ke Mabahis was reprinted.
Other reprints on linguistic issues include: Ghulam Mustafa Khan’s Saqafati Urdu, Rajeshwer Rao Asgher’s Qiraan-us-Sa’dain Ma’ Majma’-ul-Bahrain and Shanul Haq Haqqee’s Farhang-i-Talaffuz.
Other titles that made appearance in 2022 include: Nigaarishaat-i-Mushfiq Khwaja, a collection of Mushfiq Khwaja’s miscellaneous prose pieces edited by Mahamood Kavish; Kulliyaat-i-Nasr-i-Iqbal, a collection of Allama Iqbal’s miscellaneous Urdu prose, edited by Khalid Nadeem; Iqbaliyaati Adab, a survey of writings on Iqbal that were published during the last 40 years, written by Rafiuddin Hashmi.
Many other titles were published during the year that was, but due to want of space they could not be mentioned here.
Published in Dawn, january 2th, 2023
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