Ayesha Salman: A new literary voice from Pakistan
Ayesha Salman has lovely excerpts from her forthcoming novel. We are posting a few here: Excerpt 1 She dreamt of an old haveli. There is a sweet shuffle, the sitar is playing to the wind, the raj of the Mughals is at its peak, breezy music sweeps the lawns, hinged on an ancestral memory, crackling sounds echo, like a scratched LP with two hundred years of dust to prove its wisdom and worth. Dancing girls dance like birds waiting to be fed, their flat empty bellies moving back and forth to the rhythms of their nawabs’ desires. I can smell their soft, clean dupattas, fluttering in the purple wind carrying them to the edge of reason. I long to touch them even when I know they are buried somewhere where I can’t … Read entire article »
Filed under: Fiction, Literature
Two Faiz celebrations in Lahore
Ammar Aziz has sent this exclusive piece for Pak Tea House on the recent centennial celebrations held for the great poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz. We are posting this without prejudice as debate on such important public concerns is vital. However, the views expressed here are not necessarily those of the PTH team. We would welcome rebuttals on this space. Admn Lahore’s Mall road was as crowded as always. Behind the modern age vehicles – coming violently from the both sides of the road- and amongst the old silent trees, I saw him, walking very slowly on a footpath. The old man was holding a little red flag. Those ragged dusty clothes, lengthy gray hair, wrinkled mystic face and small piece of scarlet; there … Read entire article »
Filed under: Activism, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Literature, Pakistan, poetry, Urdu
South Asian Literature Festival (15-25 October)
PTH announces the forthcoming festival – Raza Rumi The inaugural South Asian Literature Festival takes place in London from 15th – 25th October, followed by outreach events in Brighton, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester at the end of October. SALF joins an emerging landscape of literature festivals located in South Asia including Jaipur, Hay Festival Kerala, Galle and Karachi Literature Festivals but is UK based and the only one to have the remit of focusing on South Asian writing exclusively. Reflecting the diverse nature of South Asian culture, SALF is a multi-dimensional festival and will explore the politics, languages and literature of the region through music, spoken word, visual arts and literary performance. Playing host to a stellar cast of authors, actors, poets, musicians – home-grown, international and from the sub-continent – and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Literature, south asia
In Baghdad Ruins, Remains of a Cultural Bridge
Reproduced from The New York Times By ANTHONY SHADID Published: May 21, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/world/middleeast/22house.html?pagewanted=1&ref=middleeast BAGHDAD — Report No. 25, dated April 4 and written by Col. Qais Hussein, was clinical, the anonymous survey of an explosion in a city where explosions are ordinary. “Material damage: significant,” it declared of the car bomb that was detonated last month near the Egyptian Embassy, killing 17 people. “The burning of 10 cars + the burning of a house, which was in front of the embassy, with moderate damage to 10 surrounding houses.” Colonel Hussein’s report didn’t mention the hundreds of books, from plays of Chekhov to novels of the Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani, stored in bags, boxes and a stairwell. It didn’t speak of the paintings there of Shaker Hassan, one of Iraq’s greatest, or the sculptures of his … Read entire article »
Filed under: Identity, Iraq, Literature, Pakistan, Palestine-israel, Religion, Terrorism, USA, violence, war
Karachi Literary Festival: Spring in the land of suicide bombers and charlatans
Raza Rumi Who says Pakistani literature was a relic of the past? If anything, Pakistani authors have a global audience today, and our writers are now the greatest harbingers of Pakistan’s complexity and nuance in a way that the embedded media can scarcely fathom. The first literary festival took off in our cosmopolitan melting pot, Karachi, in March. The Oxford University Press’ dynamic head Ameena Saiyid, and the British Council, together organised this event. Asif Farrukhi, the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Languages, Literature, New Writers, Pakistan, south asia
FICTION: The Solidity of Things
Posted by Raza Rumi At PTH, we have struggled to retain the balance between politics, history and arts and culture. However, given Pakistan’s turbulent politics and security, it has been an uphill task. We are now inviting new writers to come and express themselves at PTH. Especially since the explosion (pun intended) of Pakistani fiction at a global scale. We are printing a story by Hamza Rehman who is a an Esquire based in Islamabad. Hamza is a practising lawyer who moonlights as DJ for Pakistan Broadcasting Association’s Planet FM 94, where he hosts the Alternative Rock and 80’s shows. He freelances for The Friday Times and pens fiction as much as he can. He primarily writes about characters in Islamabad and experiments heavily with metaphor. The Solidity of Things is … Read entire article »
Filed under: Fiction, Literature, Writers
The House Of Fear – Book Review
By Yasser Latif Hamdani The House Of Fear Ibn-E- Safi Translated by Bilal Tanweer Random House 228 pages Rs195 (Indian) Random House India have brought to life and into the English language the fast paced adventures of Pakistan’s Sherlock Holmes and James Bond rolled into one: Ali Imran MSc, PhD (Oxon) aka X2- the super sleuth whose act as a fool is a cover for his sharp intellect which is utilized by the intelligence agency to its fullest. Created by Asrar Narvi … Read entire article »
Filed under: Literature, Pakistan
Karachi Literary Festival
by Raza Rumi Oxford University Press and the British Council are holding a literary festival – first of its kind. The programme can be viewed here – Full programme of the Karachi Literary Festival I am off to Karachi to attend this moot. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Literature, Pakistan, Writers
Unbordered Memories – Sindhi Stories of Partition.
Edited and Tranlated by Rita Kothari We are grateful to Isa Daudpota to have alerted us to an invaluable collection of Sindhi Partition narratives. As Isa says, most people in Pakistan are unaware of the plight of Sindhi Hindus who migrated to India at the time of Partition. The two stories are a useful corrective. Copies are available from www.penguinindia.com or amazon.com. Indeed, All public libraries in Sindh should have a copy. Raza Rumi Unbordered Memories. Sindhi Stories of Partition. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Books, Literature, Pak Tea House, Pakistan, Partition, Sindh, translations, Writers
Pakistan: A Failure of Intellectuals
BY AZHAR ASLAM AND SHERMEEN BANO (Cross-post from Vision21) Every Identity has a history and so does that of Pakistan. It is short but tumultuous, although some say it was born with the conversion or settlement of the first Muslim in India. In truly modern sense though India was only itself born, when British firmly established their rule from Afghanistan to Burma, by 1890s. In the process of doing this however, they sowed the seed of national consciousness in the minds of Indians. British influence moulded Indian nationalism by omissions and commissions. However it inevitably also laid the seed of communalism, as different regions and nationalities in the sub continental melting pot, woke up to the British rule and demanded their rights. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy, Identity, India, Islamabad, Islamism, Jinnah, Justice, Literature, Partition, Philosophy, Politics, public policy, Religion, Rights, Writers
Civilizations (Mirrors of Our Existence)
From years of our travel We look back Upon these civilizations, From years of adventure We look back Upon these civilizations From days of our inheritance The lands and its cultures The old forms of languages The mystery of Universe The old journey taken By humans and nature together As they traverse From place one to another, In harmony and disarray As we born and die From on to another, As we love and hate The old circumstances And situation, intertwined Through languages and its art, The trails, lost and visible As we look back Upon these civilizations The … Read entire article »
Filed under: ancient civilisations, Architecture, Arts and Crafts, culture, Dance, drama, dynasties, Heritage, History, Identity, Languages, Law, Literature, movements, Music, musings, Nature, Philosophy, Physics, poetry, Politics, psychology
‘The myna of peacock garden'
A new collection of translated short stories reminds us how Urdu literature needs to connect with a global audience, says Raza Rumi As I hold the recently published “The Oxford Book of short stories” in my hands, I cannot help bemoan the fact that Urdu literature has been almost invisible from the arena of global literature. Admittedly, translation is difficult; the tediousness of translation daunts many a brave heart. Having said that, there have been a … Read entire article »
Filed under: Literature, Pakistan, translations, Urdu
Painting the truth
Reviewed by S.G. Jilanee Saadat Hasan Manto was very popular in his time as a progressive writer. But he wrote in Urdu. Now, Rakhshanda Jalil introduces him to English readers with a collection of 16 of his short stories and three sketches in Naked Voices. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Books, Literature, Partition, Reviews, translations
Discovering Five Dials
by Raza Rumi ‘We’d love to have more people from Pakistan writing for and reading the magazine’ It was quite soothing to come across a delightful publication entitled Five Dials — a free, beautifully produced magazine. The current issue available at www.fivedials.com includes a piece by the young novelist Ali Sethi who has written a novel at an extraordinary age of 24. The piece delves into the reaction of author once he encounters the desolation at Shah Jamal’s shrine in Lahore.Shah Jamal’s shrine has also been associated with the great Pappu Sain dhol wala. I am publishing the small post on Five Dials in its own voice to make the description of the magazine a little more familiar and immediate than a boring review. I am grateful to Craig Taylor for helping me … Read entire article »
Filed under: Literature, magazines, New Writers
PTH biweekly Cartoon
Picture of the Week
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Sunrise at the Arabian Sea, Charna Island
24 Dec 2011
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