Lakeer
Included in this issue
Notes on Clifton, Block 2 by Eman Farhan
Essay
House, Wife by Maira Hayat
Fiction
تیسرے دن by Najwan Darwish,
translated by Hammad Rind
Poetry
No Horror, No Grim Reaper by Iraj Toosy
Poetry
ایک کنگن ایک محبت by Afnan Ibnayjunaid
Fiction
From the archives
Essay | Ports by Bassam Sidiki
A handsome attendant rolled me toward my uncle’s SUV. When I had settled into the passenger seat, he said with some emotion in his voice and some pity in his eyes, “Best of luck to you.”
Fiction | Unrest by Zuneera Shah
for it was foremostly her sadness, then her sister’s, then the two brothers’ and so on, for sadness had to be segmented then distributed then possessed—her spectators kept the first watch. It was only when Zeba finally looked up that the witnesses, sensing in this gesture an invitation, rushed towards her.
Interview | داستان گوئی : A Conversation with Hammad Rind by Bareerah Ghani
“So, when you go back to the early days of the novel, or even earlier, for example, the work by Boccaccio, Decameron, the ten stories which are being told by these feudal lords and ladies who are confined in a villa outside Florence because of the Black Death.”
Poetry | God Rides the Subway on Sundays by Eleen Raja
I always dreamed of being a home
like all poets for things
that we may never hear outside of water
Could a Tadpole define death?
Poetry | Origin Story by Javeria Hasnain
All origin stories contain indigeneity
& indigeneity eludes me.
Our people call each other muhajir.
(I am an immigrant in my own city.)
Poetry | کبھی دیکھا ہے ہم نے حُسنِ شاعری کو
by Farrukh Ali Hassan
کبھی دیکھا ہے ہم نے حُسنِ شاعری کو
کہ موجِ حالِ دسترس، الوداع عاجزی کو؟
وہ جو سکونِ قلبِ مطمئن ہے فضاؤں میں
ہے کون یاں جو توڑے اس وفائے شعاری کو
from DECEMBER 2024
Poetry
Wuthering Heights
by Mary Christina
from DECEMBER 2024
Art
Invisible Element – Mind Palace
by Maria Mirza
from SEPTEMBER 2024
Poetry
Zinfandel Grapes
by Hibah Shabkhez
Translations of a poem into a different language by various writers
Urdu to English
نظم ۔ تہذیب حافی
notes and translations by ٖFatima Shafi, Mehak F. Khan, Asna Nusrat, and Sakina Hassan
Shandana Minhas speaks to writers, artists, absurdists. listen to episodes here.
4 January 2025
with DR AMMARA MAQSOOD
Dr Ammara Maqsood and Shandana Minhas talk about differences being a place of positive potential, marriage in Pakistan, the rise of visible religiosity in Pakistan and the negative ways it is perceived.
Submissions for art/photography for Lakeer Magazine are currently open.
1 January–31 January.
Submissions for Chowk, ‘Borders/Boundaries – سرحدیں/حُدود’, are also open.
Lakeer Summer Mentorship Program: Applications for 2025 will be open
1 April 2025–30 April 2025. Details of the program can be found here.