“The Author dies, along with his world. The Reader is born into a different universe, and confronts the text as rootless and wayward as the autumnal wind brushing through his hair.” Momina Masood searches for the Pakistani author.
“…They have served well. / Even though knuckles are pummeled, nails ridged/ like limpet shells. These hands have never/ been used to beg…” Poem of the Week (October 6), by Kishwar Naheed, in an English version by Vicki Husband.
“soon it will be dark and hard to find/ the faintest light…/ But the farthest point/ of this barren land seems to sparkle.”
Poem of the Week (February 3), by Afshan Sajjad. Translated from Urdu by Kathrine Sowerby.
“deeply/ curious then to travel, be travelled through/carrying possibilities, the wish for many lives…” Poem of the Week (January 20), by Khaled Javaid Jan. Translated from Urdu by Kathrine Sowerby.
“We are always just this side/ of catastrophe, slightly shattered/ and taped whole by the love/ of those we do not fully/ comprehend…” Poem of the Week (October 7), by Kyla Pasha.
“As far as debut novels go, this one is pretty fantastic… Plus, it has a cat.” Ghausia Rashid Salam reviews Saba Imtiaz’s first novel.
In an exclusive conversation with Sana Hussain, poet Waqas Khwaja shares his ambivalence about the abundance of literature festivals in Pakistan, and comments on the impossibility of translations, his experience guest editing the Atlanta Review’s issue on Pakistani poetry and his passion for literature and poetry.
“In fact, I think the only convincing, memorable female protagonist in Pakistani prose has been created by a man… Mohammed Hanif” Hira A, The Missing Slate’s Poet of the Month, talks to Ghausia Rashid Salam.
“my breasts offend my father,/ more so than my opinions…” Poem of the Week (April 1st), by Hira A.
Isra Ansari finds plenty to admire in Nadeem Aslam’s latest novel.