Muzaffar Mukhtar reports in The Express Tribune that there's been a Slump in sales: Booksellers going out of business -- an article that could be written about most any place right now but, in this case, is about Pakistan, and specifically Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
The problem, of course: "the absence of a book reading culture", the lament:
Also interesting:
People are now too occupied with TV channels, social media and the internet to find time for books.Good to see that they could find support for that thesis:
Muhammad Ali, a student at the Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, said there is no need to buy prints when you have an internet connection. "Reading books is boring in today's fast-paced world. There are other ways available to acquire information."(I have to admit I'm tickled at the thought that there's actually an 'Arid Agriculture University', but I'll be damned -- there is. Still, nice touch, getting that quote from someone from a so-named institution.)
Also interesting:
Umaira Ahmad and Nimra Ahmad are the most popular fiction writers with the youth these days. "Writers such as Intizar Hussain, Saadat Hassan Manto and Ismat Chughtai are not the choice of the people. While most girls like Wasi Shah, hardly anybody knows about Noon Meem Rashid"Not sure what it means that Hussain (Basti, etc.), Manto (Bombay Stories; see the Vintage publicity page, and Chughtai (e.g. The Crooked Line; see the Feminist Press publicity page) are the authors that have recently been made available in the US; the Ahmads and Wasi Shah, not so much .....