Urdu

BN Goswamy (1933-2023): Sage and Sensitivity

Ranjit Hoskote

Art historian BN Goswamy combined an empirical precision with a soaring imagination

Remade in Urdu

Shylashri Shankar

When thrillers are adapted with local flavour

Critical Mass of Urdu Speakers

Swapan Dasgupta

Urdu’s importance has been declining steadily since a mass of Urdu speakers and writers migrated to Pakistan from northern India and the erstwhile Hyderabad state after Partition

Free Verse

Poorna Swami

The extraordinary romance of the ordinary

Rahman Abbas: ‘English writers enjoy more freedom than us’

Bhavya Dore

Urdu writer Rahman Abbas on the challenges of being defiant

Language Outreach

Gillian Wright

Urdu claims its rightful place as a voice of the people

Call for Jihad

Tufail Ahmad

Some Urdu dailies in India extol Islam’s first holy war

The Rococo of Afzal Ahmed Syed

Rajni George

The collected poems of Urdu’s most contemporary poet splices antiquity and the current moment—marking a modern poetry event in the subcontinent

The Last Ustad

Rajni George

Acclaimed writer and critic Shamsur Rahman Faruqi on poetry, Indian literary theory and Urdu’s legacy in an exclusive preview of his new book

Wilful Ignorance

Omair Ahmed

Urdu originated as a mix of several languages spoken during the Sultanate era in Delhi. Those who reject the language now are rejecting their own legacy