Book on Contemporary Urdu Writings from India, Pakistan

New Delhi: Thirty translated stories from contemporary Indian and Pakistani Urdu writers that are based on human dilemmas have been compiled in a new book “New Urdu Writings from India and Pakistan”. The anthology, edited by author and writer, Rakhshanda Jalil, was launched in Delhi last fortnight, by writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar. Published by Tranquebar, the collection comprises 15 short stories each from Indian and Pakistani authors. Jalil, the author of “Invisible City: The Hidden Monuments of Delhi”, at the outset clarified that while short-listing stories for this book, she was looking for “commonalities” that bind together people from both sides of the border. “There was no peg, no theme for this book. All I was focusing on was to bring fresh, new writings from both the countries to show how this beautiful language has developed in the short story format. There was no search for religion or communal matters,” Jalil told IANS.
“There used to be a time when an author would raise a question pertaining to the society, in his stories and would provide a solution to it as well. But in this book you will see most of the writers have used metaphors to communicate and have give open-ended conclusions,” she pointed out. With the help of 30-35 translators, most of them first timers, Jalil has been able to put this book together to promote Urdu writings.
(Twocircles.net)