Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Mukalma’s 19th issue enriches Urdu literature

Jumbo Editorial Team

Mukalma is a biannual series of books being published by Academy Bazyaft, housed in Karachi’s famous Urdu Bazar, which is the leading market in the metropolis for all kinds of books and magazines besides stationery items.

Mukalma’s latest issue, which is 19th in the series, is as rich in content, if not richer, than its previous issues. Compiled by Mubeen Mirza, who is also the publisher, it seems to be having all ingredients of a top class literary publication worthy to be compared with the very best of works being done in Urdu language.

Spread over 530 pages, the 19th issue of Mukalma, covering the period of July to December 2011, has a selection of high-quality articles, features, poetry, profiles and reviews by the eminent literary personalities.

Its contributors include Shamim Hanfi, Qazi Afzal Hussain, Professor Fateh Mohammad Malik, Professor Saher Ansari, Zafar Iqbal, Dr Ali Ahmed Fatmi, Amjad Tufail, Zafar Sippal, Intizar Hussain, Mohammad Hamza Farooqui, Baqar Naqvi, Iftikhar Arif, Khurshid Rizvi, Anwar Shawoor, Raza Mujtaba, Ahmed Sagheer Siddiqui, Fatima Hasan, Zia-ul-Hasan, Ajmal Siraj, Aftab Hussain, Hameeda Shaheen, Tasneem Abidi, Ambreen Haseeb Amber, Bushra Hashmi, Nabil Ahmed Nabil, Shafi Aqeel, Saleem Yazdani, Kamal Ahmed Rizvi, Nasim Syed, Mazhar Jamil, Mansha Yad, Shams-ur-Rahman Farooqui, Rasheed Amjad, Najm-ul-Hasan Rizvi, Mohammad Hameed Shahid and Mubeen Mirza.

The printing of Mukalma is of the highest class with every page being clearly legible even on the ordinary paper which, in all probability, has been used to prevent it from becoming out of reach of the people who value reading literature in the age of laptops and ipads. It’s priced Rs 450 in Pakistan and US$ 25 abroad.

There is limited advertisement support in the closing pages but that seems to be far too little to subsidize the ever-rising production costs drastically.

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