Nasir Abbas Nayyar is a Lahore-based Urdu writer and a recipient of the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (2025). He pioneered and streamlined the postcolonial study of Urdu literature, establishing it as a significant field in Urdu criticism. He is the author of award-winning books such as Urdu Adab ki Tashkeel-e-Jadeed and Us ko Ik Shakhs Samjhna to Munasib hi Nahi. His groundbreaking works Nazm Kaisay Parhain and Naiy Naqqad ka Naam Khatoot are the first of their kind in Urdu. His stories reflect the agonies and complexities of our age.
Stories are ubiquitous and take on many forms. Even the stories themselves have their own accounts — detailing how they came to be, sometimes shared in an instant and, in other instances, forgotten only to be revived later. Occasionally, the story of stories proves to be more captivating than the stories themselves.
Hafeez Khan, a distinguished author in Seraiki and Urdu, appears to hold the view that literature transcends mere witnessing the contemporary world; it serves as a realm where the grand narrative of the present, past and future is re-enacted, contested and restructured.
The title of this book, Towards the Pebbled Shore, is borrowed from a Shakespearean sonnet that explores the destructive nature of time and the fragility of human existence. The phrase provides a powerful metaphor for the swift and inevitable progression of life towards its final destination. Does the author, in selecting this title, suggest an intensified awareness of mortality? Possibly, he does. Yet the resonance of this image lies equally in its quiet alignment with the book’s thematic core.
