Recently, he breezed, through the City of Joy Kolkata to deliberate on Charles Dickens — one of the prolific novelists of the Victorian England — to commemorate his bicentenary (February 7) at the just concluded 36th edition of the annual Kolkata book fa

It's been a few weeks since Rushdie went off front pages, months after Ramanujan's essay was taken of the Delhi University syllabus and more than a year since Rohinton Mistry was targetted by the Shiv Sena. Each time, a handful of writers, activists and

KARACHI, Feb 12: The third Karachi Literature Festival ended on a musical note preceded by some interesting panel discussions and conversations with authors at the Carlton Hotel on Sunday. The highlight of the second and final day of the festival was a d

Political analyst Khaled Ahmed attempted to identify, as best as he could in a five-minute slot, minorities in Pakistan. PHOTO: ARIF SOOMRO/EXPRESS It started late, rushed to resolve and concluded with dismay. Indeed, the amount of interest displayed in

What can be said with certainty is that Vikram Seth is a charmer. PHOTO: AYESHA MIR/EXPRESS What can be said with certainty is that Vikram Seth is a charmer. In a hall packed well ahead of schedule on the second day of the Karachi Literature Festival on

Vikram Seth once wrote a libretto that his composer didn’t quite warm to, even though it was titled Fire. Alec Roth wanted Vikram to write something else. “I can’t do that,” Vikram was aghast. “I can’t just go back to my muse and say my composer doesn’t