Meet-less Days: Dining Solo in Peshawar

An anthropologist’s fieldwork takes her to Peshawar, where she becomes an unwitting observer of her own life—and the dynamics of inhabiting a new city—as she dines solo. What was once taken as granted or a vessel to romanticise her own life becomes a negotiation to (re)claim space and a sense of self.

By Zainab Najeeb

Sep 01, 2025

Bare Life

In 𝘈 𝘚𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, Dur e Aziz Amna’s second novel, she writes about Tara, a woman who, like her name, is chasing a star or trying to become one.

By Iman Iftikhar

Sep 01, 2025

Deep Time, Slow-building and ‘Ancient Intelligence’: Pakistan at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale

The 19th International Architecture Exhibition, titled 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴. 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭. 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭. 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦., curated by Carlo Ratti and organised by La Biennale di Venezia opened in May 2025. A team of eight dedicated Pakistani architects and researchers presented (𝘍𝘳)𝘈𝘨𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘚𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴, while facing bureaucratic hurdles, visa and shipment delays and the four-day war back home. Zoya Gul Hasan walks us through the installation and ponders Pakistan's future at international art biennales.

By Zoya Gul Hasan

Aug 28, 2025

Pakistan’s Moment to Shine in Osaka

Universe in a Grain of Salt’, curated by Noorjehan Bilgrami for the Pakistan Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka, features pink rock salt structures and art that mesmerises audiences through the lens of geological and urban history, spanning eons with moments of serenity.

By Hassan Khan

Aug 28, 2025

Women Publishers in Pakistan: A View from the Inside

Publisher, Pushcart nominated poet and erstwhile editor of prominent lifestyle magazines in Pakistan, Mehvash Amin shares her journey as a woman in Pakistan’s publishing sphere—a personal account of navigating the obstacle course laid out for her as she publishes 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘩 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸, as well as highlighting her work with PAWPE.

By Mehvash Amin

Sep 01, 2025

Death Becomes Us

An uncontrolled bloodlust rears its ugly head after high-profile crimes in Pakistan. People, who otherwise oppose punishments such as the death penalty, are quick to be judge, jury and executioner. Saba Imtiaz wonders where this moral juggling comes from? Why is it so easy for people to make these exceptions?

By Saba Imtiaz

Aug 29, 2025

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PROFILES

Wearing Your Heart On Your Sleeve: A Profile of Haseeb Hassan

The Central Saint Martins trained designer has a distinctive style that is at once a heartfelt homage to his heritage and the manifestation of a design vocabulary rooted in his formal training

Aamir Ali Shah Jun 19, 2025

PROFILES

Khadim Ali: Of Demons and Utopias

At his mid-career retrospective at COMO museum, the artist’s work speaks to his personal and ancestral pain and imagines a way out of it

Tehmina Khan Jun 05, 2025

PROFILES

BUILDING A SWEET EMPIRE: A Profile of Rina Mohsin

From the cake wali aunty on speed dial for birthdays, weddings and Eid to the proud owner of a lovingly built and sprawling restaurant business, Rina Mohsin’s is a story of persistence and a commitment to excellence

Nijah S. Khan Apr 21, 2025

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Broken Record

By Saba Imtiaz

In Interesting Times

By Umair Javed

Not a Recipe Column

By Maryam Jillani

Margin Notes

By Haroon Sethi

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PHOTO ESSAYS

Is Parcham Kay Saye Talay

In Urdu Bazaar Lahore, the symbols of Independence Day stand for more than just patriotism, they represent livelihoods and whole communities that revolve around them.

Aug 13, 2025

Umaima Tanweer Khan

PHOTO ESSAYS

Of Light

With construction on the River Ravi underway, the Kamran Baradari becomes a reminder of the vicissitudes of time.

Jul 31, 2025

Nazuk Iftikhar Rao

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Bare Life

In 𝘈 𝘚𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, Dur e Aziz Amna’s second novel, she writes about Tara, a woman who, like her name, is chasing a star o...

By Iman Iftikhar

Sep 01, 2025

The Civilised Beast of Noor Junejo

Noor Junejo’s novel 𝘔𝘶𝘩𝘢𝘻𝘻𝘢𝘣 𝘞𝘦𝘩𝘴𝘩𝘪 translated into Urdu from the Sindhi is a philosophical text that holds you till the...

By Haroon Ashraf

Aug 29, 2025

Trial by Fire

In September 2012, over 250 workers perished in a fire at Ali Enterprises, a garment factory in Karachi working for a Ge...

By Fizzah Sajjad

Jul 21, 2025

That Which Looms in Hiromi Kawakami’s World

Hiromi Kawakami’s Under the Eye of the Big Bird (translated by Asa Yoneda, and shortlisted for the International Booker...

By Rana Saadullah Khan

Jul 18, 2025

The Many Lahores of Manan Ahmed Asif

‘What is and was Lahore? How has it changed in its thirteen disruptions?’ These are among the many questions that flaneu...

By Nazuk Iftikhar Rao

Jul 02, 2025

The Sins of James

Satire aims to provoke, but does Percival Everett’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel go far enough?

By Rana Saadullah Khan

Jun 14, 2025

Banu Mushtaq’s Muslim Women

𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘓𝘢𝘮𝘱, the first ever book translated from Kannada shortlisted by the International Booker Prize, is a collection o...

By Rana Saadullah Khan

May 12, 2025

In Conversation with Shazaf Fatima Haider

The UK-based Pakistani author’s most recent novel A Woman on a Suitcase revisits marriage and the end of it

By Mina Malik

May 12, 2025

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SPORTS

Courts of Change: The Rise of Padel in Pakistan’s Big Three

What explains Padel’s recent explosive popularity in urban Pakistan?

Jul 15, 2025 Khadija A. Malik

SPORTS

Should Pakistan Hope Again?

In recent years Pakistan has seen a bleak period in the T20I cricket arena. However, does the series clean sweep against...

Jul 10, 2025 Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi

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