LAHORE: In a session, titled Nawan Punjabi Adab, at the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) on Friday there was a thought-provoking discussion on new trends in Punjabi literature.

The session was moderated by Zahid Hassan and panelists were Nain Sukh (Khalid), Dr Sughra Sadaf and Prof Zubair Ahmed.

Dr Sadaf said Punjabi poetry was basically focused on poem but good thing that recently happened was that writing of folk poetry like tappay and bolian which was earlier missing and it was addressing new issues and setting new trends in Punjabi literature.

“Earlier, Punjabi poetry was restricted to ghazal; however, new vistas were now being explored.” She said efforts should be made to make the young generation take interest in the Punjabi language.

Sughra Sadaf said Punjabi writers today were addressing the issues the society was confronted with. She said storytelling and novels in Punjabi had progressed a lot. Terming Nain Sukh a legendary novelist, she said that one would find in his novels elements of history, society and economy.

Zubair Ahmad said Punjabi was not being given the space it deserved and added that both in Pakistan and India great stories were written in Punjabi. He said Dr Faqir Muhammad Faqir was the literary personality who brought out the first Punjabi magazine in which short story writers of those days used to contribute their works. He said Urdu Daily Imroze used to print half page in Punjabi where writers such as Shafqat Tanvir Mirza used to write and added that Mirza, Anwar Ali and Akbar Lahori used to write great stories.

Zubair said the rebirth of Punjabi took place in the 1960s. He said a lot had been written in prose as some 300 to 400 books had been written having Punjabi short stories. He thanked the LLF for introducing a session on Punjabi in the festival. He also held Nain Sukh in high esteem for writing wonderful novels in Punjabi, saying that Nain Sukh had given a new face to novel.

Nain Sukh said when Pakistan came into being, the first grant was given to Anjuman Taraqi-i-Urdu Adab, deploring that Punjabi was not given importance. He also highlighted the role of Dr Faqir in the promotion of Punjabi language by publishing Panj Darya and Punjabi Darbar magazines. He said Maula Bakhsh Kushta also wrote a valuable book on Punjabi poets titled Shora Da Tazkara that had a lot to offer on all important Punjabi poets.

In another Session, Urdu Kay Naye Afsanay, a book featuring short stories, titled Dyar-o-Dashat, was launched by Zaki Naqvi, the session was moderated by Rafaqat Hayat. The writer said it was his first book of short stories. The writer, a former Navy soldier, presently working as an Urdu lecturer, shared with the audience that the book had 12 stories written in the last 12 years. He said he was in the habit of writing stories and then keeping them with him for longer periods and he generally kept on reading his stories to ensure they were crafted well. The short stories of Naqvi had a special mention of villages and rural life with the other social and economic aspects.

The writer belongs to Abbaspur, located on the bank of Jhelum. During the session, different aspects of the writer’s short stories were discussed.

Mr Naqvi said through his stories, he had shared his experiences of life and different characters he had met in life.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2025