Lahore, 28 July: Oxford University Press (OUP) launched its recent publication Crimson Papers: Reflections on Struggle, Suffering and Creativity in Pakistanby Harris Khalique. The book is a collection of essays offering an evaluation of social and political events through which individual and national histories are shaped. It provides a commentary on the evolution of society, polity, and the literary ethos of Pakistan in a broad South Asian context. The author maps out Pakistan’s changing cultural, political, and religious landscapes with the eye of a poet and the wisdom of a seer.
Harris Khalique is a leading Urdu and English language poet. He is also an essayist and columnist. During the 1980s and 1990s, some of his poems faced censorship in Pakistan. His works have been translated into several languages. He is a University of Iowa Honorary Fellow in Writing and has spoken widely on themes straddling culture, politics, human rights, and international development.
The event held at the Oxford bookshop in Lahore featured a discussion between the author and the human-rights advocate and Secretary General of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, I. A. Rehman. Farah Zia who is a senior journalist moderated the discussion which highlighted how this collection of evocatively written essays, culled from a rich source of history, literature, memory, and politics, should be compulsory reading for all Pakistanis and those interested in Pakistan.
Earlier in his welcome address, Tariq Haq, Regional Sales Director, OUP Pakistan, introduced the author and said that the essays in this book are the work of a skilled writer, one who is an intellectual with the vision of a poet.