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Pakistan

Landscape painting of fallen and snapped trees in a forest with dark clouds overhead

Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund) in the National Gallery of Art

From A to Z: A Dialogue with Mahmoud Darwish

By Enver Sajjad

In this prose poem, Pakistani writer Enver Sajjad considers the power of words against censorship and oppression.

Translated from Urdu by Haider Shahbaz

The twelve books featured in the list, in three rows of five

12 Translators Recommend Women in Translation

By Words Without Borders

For Women in Translation Month, a dozen translators recommend recent favorite books written and translated by women.

Urdu Feminist Writing: New Approaches

By Asad Alvi, Amna Chaudhry, Mehak Faisal Khan, Anjuli Fatima Raza Kolb, Geeta Patel & Haider Shahbaz

A dispiriting narrowness has defined canons of Urdu feminist writing from previous decades.

Enemy

By Khalida Hussain

“It’s an act of virtue to kill her!”

Translated from Urdu by Haider Shahbaz

I Spat Out This Poem

By Yasmeen Hameed

I swallowed fire / And forgot you were an ocean.

Translated from Urdu by Mehr Afshan Farooqi

A yellow rose lying on a stone surface

Photo by Sindy Strife on Unsplash

A New Year for Everyone

By Hijab Imtiaz

So this is what the new year of those who worship this life looks like!

Translated from Urdu by Sascha Akhtar

No, My Veil Is Stained

By Parveen Shakir

Flowers will slip from a torn veil.

Translated from Urdu by Adeeba Shahid Talukder

Sappho’s Ephemera

Her sagacity immortalized even her scattered, sporadic axioms.

Translated from Urdu by Geeta Patel

Red earth has broken apart leaving a cliff-like overhand with exposed tree roots against a forest...

Photo by Jan Canty on Unsplash

Color Thief

By Sara Shagufta

When a man cries / he floods himself in salt tears / and colorfast he drowns

Translated from Urdu by Anjuli Fatima Raza Kolb

Standing on Ashes: Three Punjabi Poets on Aging

By Sonnet Mondal

Punjabi poetry stands on ashes, reinforced by a blend of spirituality and dissent.

You’re Where You’ve Always Been

Standing before a poster of Marilyn Monroe / Unbidden I salute her beauty.

Translated from Urdu by Muhammad Umar Memon

Introduction

By Basharat Peer

My selections are a very small segment of the corpus of Pakistani literature.

The First Morning

By Intizaar Hussain

I have no definite answer to questions about why I migrated from India to Pakistan after the partition in 1947.

Translated from Urdu by Basharat Peer

His Majesty

By Vali Ashraf Sabuhi

When I was a child, until someone told me a story I couldn't sleep.

Translated from Urdu by Nauman Naqvi

Pink Pigeons—Was It They Who Won?

By Fahmida Riaz

The tiny leaves break into applause. What are these trees called? I ask the interpreter.

Translated from Urdu by Muhammad Umar Memon

The “Monthly Ulloo”

By Muhammad Khalid Akhtar

Without these uncles, life is a thing utterly insipid and meaningless, and living a mere waste of time.

Translated from Urdu by Bilal Tanweer

Do You Suppose It’s the East Wind?

By Altaf Fatima

The enormous weight of three hundred and sixty-five days once again slips from my hand and falls down into the dark cavern of the past.

Translated from Urdu by Muhammad Umar Memon

Rosa

Homesickness brought my grandfather back to Venice where my father, Rosario de la Savoia, was born.

Karbala as Court Case

By Sayyid Nasim Abbas

After the first night, I was a regular: the men in the front row called me dear brother and saved room for my recording gear and me.

Translated from Urdu by Richard McGill Murphy

Toba Tek Singh

By Saadat Hasan Manto

This lunatic's name was Bashan Singh, but everyone called him Toba Tek Singh.

Translated from Urdu by Richard McGill Murphy

Third Letter to Uncle Sam

By Saadat Hasan Manto

He is said to be now looking for an American wife. Uncle, for God's sake help him there so that he can be saved from a sorry end.

Translated from Urdu by Richard McGill Murphy