At 100, actor and entertainer Dick Van Dyke reflects on eight decades in show business, personal loss and the lessons that have
Published 27 Sep, 2026 07:26am
With artificial intelligence able to churn out words instantaneously, even imitating and combining the stylistic and technical
Published 27 Sep, 2026 07:26am
Richard Osman’s latest slow-burn thriller continues his trademark balance of humour and morbid mystery, tapping into something
Published 27 Sep, 2026 07:26am
This was supposed to be a continuation of my previous column on Naqlain Aur Hikayatain [Anecdotes, Tales and...
Published 20 Sep, 2026 05:49am
An English translation brings the poetry of the mystic Peero Preman to a wider audience, revealing a fearless voice
Published 20 Sep, 2026 05:49am
Celebrated author Julian Barnes bids farewell to his readers with a genre-bending novel about memory, love, ageing
Published 20 Sep, 2026 05:49am
What connects a 17th-century Pashto Sufi poet with a 20th-century Urdu philosopher-poet? A new, immensely researched book
Published 20 Sep, 2026 05:49am
It was sad but strangely fitting that Dolly Parton should have died during the UK’s National Year of Reading, ...
Published 13 Sep, 2026 07:01am
Love, loss, displacement and vanished worlds collide in a collection of six Urdu stories that travel across time,
cities
Updated 13 Sep, 2026 08:55am
Amit Chaudhuri’s latest novel is a quiet, intimate portrait of Paris seen through the eyes of an outsider, where overlooked
Updated 13 Sep, 2026 08:56am
Celebrated British sci-fi and fantasy author Adrian Tchaikovsky’s work often deals with themes of artificial intelligence
Updated 13 Sep, 2026 08:57am
In 1999, Amaresh Misra published Lucknow: Fire of Grace — The Story of its Renaissance, Revolution and Aftermath....
Published 06 Sep, 2026 04:24am
The first volume of the autobiography of a renowned Pakistani physicist and mathematician covers the first 40 years
Published 06 Sep, 2026 04:24am
Five writers, two recurring names and five distinct narrative worlds make for an intriguing storytelling experiment — but the idea
Published 06 Sep, 2026 04:24am
An translation of a 1951 book provides a valuable English guide to the vocabulary of Sufism, exploring its mystical concepts
Published 06 Sep, 2026 04:24am
Although the 18th century witnessed the crippling of the mighty Mughal empire, it was also the wonderful age of...
Updated 30 Aug, 2026 08:09am
Legendary tennis player Björn Borg opens up for the first time about his life in a memoir that is honest, reflective and intimate
Updated 30 Aug, 2026 08:08am
The memoirs of a powerful former civil servant take the reader on a journey through Pakistan’s turbulent political history,
Updated 30 Aug, 2026 08:08am
A moving novel by an acclaimed American author grapples with how politics affect our daily well-being and the dual-edged
Updated 30 Aug, 2026 08:07am
A greater deal of learning, intellectual vigour and stamina goes into editing classical texts than a reader would...
Published 23 Aug, 2026 07:09am
The third volume of litterateur Asghar Nadeem Syed’s pen portraits focuses on famous television personalities from the 1970s,
Published 23 Aug, 2026 07:09am
An insightful book by a development economist and geospatial mapping expert attempts to identify clusters of rural and urban
Published 23 Aug, 2026 07:09am
A collection of 15 short stories is a mixed bag, reflecting the author’s preoccupations with philosophies across
Published 23 Aug, 2026 07:09am
These pages are called Books&Authors (B&A) to showcase new books through their reviews. B&A presents an...
Published 16 Aug, 2026 04:22am
A debut collection of incisive short stories by a Pakistani-Canadian author focuses on women negotiating identity, relationships
Published 16 Aug, 2026 04:22am
A recent book documents how women in the Global South utilised knowledge production and built transnational networks to challenge
Published 16 Aug, 2026 04:22am
A recently published Urdu novel, set mainly among the Christian community in Hyderabad of the 1960s, is a multi-faith tale
Published 16 Aug, 2026 04:22am
Homer, obviously: that is what we’ve been told since the late sixth century BCE, when ancient Greeks started...
Published 09 Aug, 2026 05:46am
Set against the violence and uncertainty of 1990s Karachi, a remarkable debut novel by the celebrated poet Adrian Husain explores
Published 09 Aug, 2026 05:46am
A deeply researched study examines the trial in Lahore of revolutionary icon Bhagat Singh and his comrades, exposing how colonial
Published 09 Aug, 2026 05:46am
A collection of four contemporary Russian stories, beautifully translated into Urdu, captures the enduring power
Published 09 Aug, 2026 05:46am
On 20 July Andy Burnham became Britain’s seventh prime minister in the decade since the 2016 Brexit referendum. He...
Published 02 Aug, 2026 07:18am
A richly imagined gothic fantasy novel blends necromancy, court intrigue, forbidden love and visceral violence into an unsettling
Published 02 Aug, 2026 07:18am
Rather than a catalogue of events, the late politician Qazi Faiz Muhammad’s memoirs — recently translated from Sindhi to Urdu
Published 02 Aug, 2026 07:18am
Best remembered as Sholay’s Imam Sahib, A.K. Hangal was also a tailor, theatre stalwart, trade unionist, political activist
Published 02 Aug, 2026 07:18am
In quiet deserts like Tharparkar, one can see constellations and stars glowing in a clear sky, as if the universe is closer.
Published 26 Jul, 2026 07:05am
From modest beginnings to the presidency of First Women Bank, Akram Khatoon’s inspiring journey is the subject of a new Urdu
Published 26 Jul, 2026 07:05am
The real transformation of China began more than two millennia ago. Now a remarkable, deeply researched work of extraordinary
Updated 28 Jul, 2026 11:45am
A collection of eight compelling short stories examines the quiet devastations of women’s lives, family relationships and social
Published 26 Jul, 2026 07:05am
A qissa, with all its multifarious subjects, and the range of narrative voices and devices it employs to tell stories, does
Published 19 Jul, 2026 07:03am
Through a series of interconnected investigations, a detective genre novel uses crime fiction to explore taboo social issues
Published 19 Jul, 2026 07:03am
A recent book by a Norwegian scholar offers not only a compelling analysis of the fraying of the global terrorist organisation
Published 19 Jul, 2026 07:03am
A new biography chronicles the French football captain’s extraordinary rise from a Zinedine Zidane-loving boy in Paris’ suburbs
Published 19 Jul, 2026 07:03am
Muslims’ relationship with Ali is unique in the devotional history of world religions.
Published 12 Jul, 2026 06:56am
A slim collection of reflective essays, poems and diary entries by the Nobel prize winning author Han Kang offers
Published 12 Jul, 2026 06:56am
A recently published coffee table book pieces together the remarkable life of the legendary late artist Gulgee
Published 12 Jul, 2026 06:56am
Dr Muhammad Amjad Saqib, the founder of the NGO Akhuwat, is a well-known and respected figure in Pakistan. His...
Published 12 Jul, 2026 06:56am
I was born and brought up in Karachi and sadly witnessed what happened in terms of violence and chaos in urban Pakistan.
Updated 05 Jul, 2026 02:26pm
Pakistan’s history, as recounted by the champions of Pakistani nationalism, has a line-up of heroes and villains....
Published 05 Jul, 2026 06:53am
Through conversations with 12 distinguished civil servants, a volume of oral history offers a rare glimpse into Pakistan’s
Published 05 Jul, 2026 06:53am
Four monographs by a Pakistani scholar brim with information and comparative research about the representation of twins
Published 05 Jul, 2026 06:53am
A work of linguistic and intellectual history shines a light on the marginalisation of Punjab’s language in newly
Published 28 Jun, 2026 07:05am
A recent book about nine football World Cups since 1990 is a compelling exploration of the international event as a global
Updated 28 Jun, 2026 08:35am
A fresh retelling of the legendary Egyptian pharaoh’s life recasts her as a healer, strategist and fiercely devoted mother rather
Published 28 Jun, 2026 07:05am
There are two common derivatives from the word bazaar (itself from old Persian meaning market) in Urdu — bazaari...
Published 28 Jun, 2026 07:05am
In world literature, Tilism-i-Hoshruba (1883-1897), stands as an oddity: a fantasy that starts in medias res, a ...
Published 21 Jun, 2026 07:10am
Part primer, part Socratic conversation and part cultural history, this engaging volume explores the theoretical foundations
Published 21 Jun, 2026 07:10am
The autobiography of trade unionist Usman Baloch chronicles a lifetime of struggle for workers’ rights but its emotional centre
Updated 23 Jun, 2026 06:29am
A reunion among three former best friends unravels long-held secrets, regrets and unanswered questions in this fast-paced debut
Updated 23 Jun, 2026 06:25am
Naseer Memon’s book in Sindhi, Bangladesh: Bohraan Khaan Bohraan Taeen is a comprehensive account of the history of and political
Published 14 Jun, 2026 05:55am
There are very good reasons why Mesopotamia is considered the cradle of modern civilisations
Updated 14 Jun, 2026 03:22pm
Oscar Wilde’s celebrated tale of beauty, vanity and moral decay finds a new linguistic home, opening one of English literature’s
Published 14 Jun, 2026 05:55am
An upper-class New York wife and mother in the 1970s finds herself suffocated by the demands of social performance
Published 14 Jun, 2026 05:55am
Adam Smith, Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Bloom all value empathy. Yet each argue that feeling another’s pain is only the starting
Published 07 Jun, 2026 05:18am
A book argues Pakistan can overcome its challenges by embracing the values of the European Enlightenment, but offers oft-repeated
Published 07 Jun, 2026 05:18am
A debut collection of poems offers moving meditations on the intricate role of identity and individuality in the journey
Published 07 Jun, 2026 05:18am
Part biography, part investigation, a fast-paced account retraces Marilyn Monroe’s journey from troubled orphan to global
Published 07 Jun, 2026 05:18am
In May 2026, the World Health Organisation declared Ebola in DR Congo and Uganda a “public health emergency of...
Published 31 May, 2026 06:58am
Academics, architects, artists and activists reflect on how a major transport project can reshape neighbourhoods and redefine
Published 31 May, 2026 06:58am
