Our essential reads for the week
Following a recent trip to Egypt, columnist Umair Javed reflects on how, in a few stark ways, that country shows an image of the future to Pakistan, given the latter’s recent political economy dynamics.
Trump’s interest in Greenland is not new. During his first term, his suggestion that the United States should ‘buy’ Greenland was widely mocked, dismissed as a diplomatic oddity. Ahmad Jamal Wattoo looks at the strategic logic beneath the spectacle.
In Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave: My Cemetery Journeys (2025), Argentine journalist and novelist Mariana Enriquez blends journalistic rigour and her fascination with the macabre, as we encounter famous graveyards steeped in history.
Millennial women, especially those wanting to be mothers, were once promised they could have it all: a solid career, a perfect family and enough time to spare to work on their own selves. So why is it that millennial women, especially mothers, are constantly exhausted and burnt out?
𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘶 by Fauzia Rafique, translated from the Punjabi by Haider Shahbaz (2025), follows Muhammad Hussain Khan ‘𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘶’ who has escaped Pakistan and lives in Vancouver, running a small business. For Rana Saadullah Khan the novel’s utopic imagination (depictions of the Punjab, of discrimination, of diasporic yearnings or lack thereof) draws such a neat dividing line between the lands in which horrors can occur and where dreams come to fruition that it makes one hesitant to celebrate 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘶 and its acts of hope.
Nikkay Kay Paye, said to have been established in 1826 in Peshawar, is a favourite haunt for citizens in the colder months. Furqan Ali goes on his annual paye adventure and reflects on the city of Peshawar.
By Saba Imtiaz
By Umair Javed
By Maryam Jillani
By Haroon Sethi
Stories, Cultures, and Landscapes
Reflecting on the Zeitgeist
Faisal Kapadia’s post-Strings journey shows that evolution does not require erasure. It can be quiet, thoughtful and still powerful. This was evidenced at Phir Milenge, a recent musical tour.
Jan 07, 2026
The Sunday Book Bazaar in Lahore, located along the footpaths on the corner of the historic Anarkali and Mall Road, provides a distinctive lens into how reading culture and knowledge access are shaped by urban informality, economic stratification and spatial politics.
Dec 19, 2025
Faisal Kapadia’s post-Strings journey shows that evolution does not require erasure. It can be quiet, thoughtful and still powerful. This was evidenced at Phir Milenge, a recent musical tour.
Jan 07, 2026
The Sunday Book Bazaar in Lahore, located along the footpaths on the corner of the historic Anarkali and Mall Road, provides a distinctive lens into how reading culture and knowledge access are shaped by urban informality, economic stratification and spatial politics.
Dec 19, 2025
In Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave: My Cemetery Journeys (2025), Argentine journalist and novelist Mariana Enriquez bl...
𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘶 by Fauzia Rafique, translated from the Punjabi by Haider Shahbaz (2025), follows Muhammad Hussain Khan ‘𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘶’ who...
Maha Khan Phillips takes us on a whirlwind, absorbing adventure in her fourth novel, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘮 𝘋𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦.
Following the 25th publication anniversary of Kamila Shamsie’s novel ‘Salt and Saffron’, Saba Imtiaz muses over how well...
The 2025 Booker Prize went to David Szalay for Flesh, his novel depicting the classic ‘man-of-few-words’ adapted for the...
Zeenat Hisam’s Tamannaon Ke Deyaar Se is an anthology of translated poems from North American women poets. Rana Saadulla...
Rabih Alameddine’s The True True Story of Raja The Gullible (and His Mother) recently became the first Arab-American wor...
Lahore in Motion: Infrastructure, History and Belonging in Urban Pakistan (UCL Press, 2025), edited by Ammara Maqsood, C...
SPORTS
For a country where young people make up a majority of the population, the potential of gaming as a career path remains...
SPORTS
What explains Padel’s recent explosive popularity in urban Pakistan?
Trump’s interest in Greenland is not new. During his first term, his suggestion that the United States should ‘buy’ Greenland was widely mocked, dismissed as a diplomatic oddity. Ahmad Jamal Wattoo looks at the strategic logic beneath the spectacle.
Debt-for-climate swaps are no longer boutique transactions, but are being pitched as a central tool to help countries break free from the vicious cycle of debt distress and climate vulnerability. Can the G77+China succeed in making them more than symbolic, clever deals on the margins?
The USA, for decades, has been at the forefront of cutting edge research and tech development; the H-1B visa has arguably played a major role in this, as global talent gravitates towards leading American institutions, whether in tech, medicine or academia. With President Trump’s new $100K talent tariff policy, the world wonders whether this will lead to a brain drain away from the USA.
