A BIZARRE situation is emerging in Pakistani Urdu literature. On one hand, booksellers usually bemoan that reading habits have taken a hit and readers are now more interested in online distractions rather than books, especially works on serious topics do not sell well.

But on the other, the number of books on Urdu research and criticism published during the last few years do not show any sign of decline. During the year 2025, too, works on Urdu research and criticism kept pouring in. True, many of them were dissertations written for a degree and some were self-published, but still it shows that interest in serious topics has not decreased and such works do sell, albeit not as much as other subjects, for instance, fiction. At Karachi’s International Book Fair, held during the preceding week, visitors of all ages flocked to the venue and books, both in Urdu and English, were sold in large quantities. Audience response to Karachi Arts Council’s four-day 18th Aalmi Urdu Conference that ended on Sunday was simply overwhelming.

All these facts suggest that the rumours about the sad demise of Urdu literature are incorrect, or, at least, premature. But the ever-increasing trend of reading books online, or in electronic forms, may pose a threat to the printing and publishing business that is already reeling from the sky-rocketing prices of printing material. Some literary Urdu magazines have shifted to online-only versions, especially the research journals published by universities are now usually not available in printed form and are read online. But this online phenomenon is not limited to just Urdu language.

Another factor that may cause a dramatic drop in number of copies of a book printed in future is the trend of digital printing. It is a desktop publishing process that shuns the traditional printing through printing press. It uses laser printers linked to computers for producing limited number of copies of a book. But currently, printed books are very much in vogue and Urdu literature is alive and kicking, as is evident from the new titles published during the year 2025.

During 2025, a large number of literary works appeared. So it is simply not possible to mention all of them in the limited space here, neither the books already discussed in pieces published in these columns earlier are mentioned:

It is lamentable that hardly any new Urdu novel published in Pakistan during the year merits a mention. As for short fiction, Irfan Javed compiled a selection from Akhlaq Ahmed’s short stories, titled Fasana Badosh. Irfan Javed also compiled an anthology of Aasim Butt’s selected short stories under the title Tez Baarish Mein Hone Wala Vaqea. Both of them were published by Lahore’s Sang-i-Meel. Chhinaal Aur Deegar Afsane is a volume consisting of Iqbal Khursheed’s short stories published this year.

Urdu humour has been struggling through quite a long dry spell and quality humour books are becoming rarer by the day. Hanif Shivani’s Zakhm-i-Khandaan and Shujauddin Ghori’s Iqbal Se Chhair Chhaar tried to bring some relief. Ghori’s work is in fact a compilation of humorous articles by different humorists, discussing Allama Iqbal and his poetry in a lighter vein, sometimes taking a jibe at the so-called experts on Iqbal. This is third such volume by Ghori and all three comprise entertaining articles. Kaha Suna Muaaaf, a collection of senior humorist and columnist Ataul Haq Qasmi’s humour works, was published by Sang-i-Meel.

Sang-i-Meel also published Mustansar Husain Tarar’s Kashmir Tasveer, a travelogue written in Tarar’s signature style: spellbinding. Javed Siddiqi, an Indian author, penned some sketches of some well-known figures from the realms of art, literature and showbiz in a light and candid style. Jehlum’s Book Corner published these sketches under the title Mere Muhtram.

As for research and criticism, Tavaazun is the collection of articles by Dr Younus Hasni, a veteran scholar. Tehseen Firaqi’s Goethe, Iqbal Aur Payam-i-Mashriq was published by Bazm-i-Iqbal. On Iqbal Day celebrated in 1938, a number of articles were published. Bazm-i-Iqbal reproduced those rare articles. Titled Aspects of Iqbal, it reflects how Iqbal’s contemporaries evaluated his poetry. Qasim Yaqoob published Maah-i-Neem Maah, elaborating Ghalib’s poetics and personality.

A large number of translations appeared during the year. Qamar Zaadiyaan translated in Urdu a prize-winning Arabic novel Sayyidaat-ul-Qamar. Translated by Javed Majeed, Majlis-i-Taraqqi-i-Adab published it. Anwer Sen Roy, a veteran poet, novelist, journalist and translator, translated Pablo Neruda’s 100 love poems under the title Ishq Ki Sau Nazmen. Another of Roy’s works that appeared this year is Mitro Marjani. It is an Urdu translation of a Hindi novella by Krishna Sobti. Book Corner has published both of these works by Roy.

It is regretted that many works published in 2025 could not be mentioned here for want of space.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2025