This is the story of Urdu literature in Pakistan. We want to curate the story of Pakistan’s Urdu literature as a kaleidoscope reflective of multiple trends, a gallery of assorted images that marked an indelible influence on the poetics of creative expression in the country. Through our project, we want to bring to light the sights and sounds of the cities that became centers of literary production. We want to make audible the vibrant energy of cafes and public spaces where poets, artists, novelists, journalists, historians, and philosophers hung out, debated new ideas, gossiped, exchanged books, dreamed of revolutionary new worlds, or prophesied the demise of humanism – all over a cup of tea. We talk about a range of literary movements with varied end goals: changing the poetic grammar of Urdu verse, enlarging the thematic scope of ghazal, amplifying the voices of the marginalized, establishing solidarities with the global South, cultivating a moralistic subjectivity through historical fiction. The history of Urdu literature is rich and complex. Our project provides a glimpse of it through some vignettes.