Adil Najam
Even when print publications were not under the type of pressures that they are today (because of internet based publishing), academic journals have always been a rather difficult enterprise to sustain. They survive mostly to the extent that libraries are willing and able to pay the high library subscriptions. Therefore an academic journal, produced [...]

Adil Najam
I did not know Asim Butt.
Except through the excellent review of his art done by Raza Rumi and carried by us at ATP in July 2008, and through the ‘Eject’ sign graffiti that because popular in many civil society circles during the last days of Gen Musharraf’s government. But hearing today that he has [...]

Raza Rumi
As I hold the recently published “The Oxford Book of Urdu 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 [...]

Aziz Akhmad
Saadat Hasan Manto walked out of the courtroom of Sessions judge Inayatullah Khan a free man (here and here). The story Thanda Gosht was declared not obscene, and Mano’s conviction by the lower court was quashed - his sentence declared void and his fine, which Manto had already paid, ordered reimbursed.
Manto was a happy [...]

Aziz Akhmad
This is the second part of my rendition of Saadat Hasan Manto’s description of his own trial, as presented in Zehmat-i-Mehr-i-Darakhshan. This is not a literal translation are readers are highly encouraged to read the original.
The first part of this was posted last week (here). We pick it up from where we left off [...]

Aziz Akhmad
Occasionally, we go back to the books and stories that we had first read years ago, in school or college. It can be fun - sometimes more than when we first read them.
When we re-read a book, we are not bothered about finding who does what to whom - we already know it. [...]