Exactly a month after the chain of events, titled “Literary Evenings” by Words and Metaphors, was kick started in the city of Peshawar, the team of Daastan traveled all the way to Karachi to hold the second one in its succession. The first event had turned out to be a huge hit, with a crowd turnout that amazed even the most hopeful among us. The poetry and performances we got to see in the event were of such good quality that weeks after the audience would find themselves thinking about the cozy environment in which all of the literary geeks felt connected as if they were a family.
The Event:
Literary Evenings Volume Two was split into two events held at separate venues so as to celebrate each one according to its needs. The first event was the book launch of Daastan’s youngest published writer from Sindh, Lareb Soomro. The 15-year-old girl from Larkana wrote her very first novel “The Secret of Spring”, and finding no avenue to bring her work to the public, turned to what would become her enabling family – Daastan. Within a few months of her sharing her novel with the team, it was proofread, edited to its best version, and then sent to print. It was such a pleasure for Daastan to have empowered such a young but a creative and budding mind. Lareb’s book launch was held in Nizamani Labour Hall where students from different colleges, writers and people with an appreciation of literature graced the event. Her launch received extensive media coverage. The news report of the event and her interviews were featured on Samaa news, Sach Tv, as well as local Sindhi news channels like Awaz.
Group photo featuring DAWN TV reporter (left), Mr. Khursheed Ahmed – a proud father, Ms. Mukhtar Soomro – a happy aunt, Ms. Lareb Soomro – Sindh’s Youngest published author and her uncle Mr. Ameen (right).
Open Mic:
The second occasion of the volume two of Literary evenings was an open mic session which took place in Pakistan Chowk Community Center. The Open Mic was themed, and people from all walks of life came together to share their works and lift the stigma from society’s notion regarding “Abuse”. Over the course of the evening, with so many hearts opening up to individuals who had gone through more or less the same experiences as them, the air grew somber but bittersweet in the knowledge that they were not alone.
Mr. Ahmed was a participant of the Open Mic Session held under Literary Evenings Vol II
In the Spring of 2018, Daastan had the honor of being the team of choice for Ms. Iqra Saeed, who wanted to publish her debut book through Qissa. Her book, “Light Upon Light – Reflections”, was extremely special in the sense that it was to become the first book based on Islam being published on Qissa self-publishing. The team was over joyed to have a chance at spreading the message of peace through this book, and helping their community reconnect with the beautiful religion that is Islam.
About the Book:
Light Upon Light was non-fiction, and focused on imparting authentic lessons that would help us better understand the code of life we followed, and renew our faith and relation with Allah SWT. The writing itself was exceptional and one of a kind, as it helped the readers tackle and walk through the emotional turmoil of everyday life. Her book took references from Islamic history, and through that assisted the reader in finding the right path. It was targeted at those who found themselves at their weakest, with no one to turn to but Allah, and encouraged them to take on their trials with patience and believe that no matter how broken and damaged they were, they would always be welcome at the gates that lead toward righteousness. It inspired one to seek out eternal joy in His remembrance, and improve our deeds for the hereafter.
Excerpt from Light Upon Light by Ms. Iqra
Bringing the Book to Print:
Daastan campaigned for the funding required to bring Ms. Iqra’s work to print, and helped raise 16,000 PKR which took a little more than a month. It was successfully completed and we published a hundred copies of her book. The company faced extensive criticism at an instance before where they helped their Literary Fellow set up their own magazine. With this book coming out however, Daastan proved that their team’s ideals were aimed towards carving out a path for whoever sought them out, and bringing their work to light no matter the challenges faced by them while doing so. Later on, Daastan also helped the author by powering the literary events in IST Youth Carnival, which was being held in her hometown, and provided her with resources to exhibit her book to garner more sales.
Ms. Iqra put up a stall, powered by Daastan, to showcase her book in the IST Youth Carnival
If you have a book that you want to share with the world, drop us a message and let us bring it to print ready format and publish it.
Daastan took over the digital space after graduating from Telenor Velocity, had authors singing up by the hundreds, and was creating waves in the trade of writing in Pakistan. With Qissa leading at the forefront, it was only natural that the team started to think of ways to expand their message to the populace previously untouched due to biased social media algorithms, lack of connectivity to the relevant resources, or dearth of awareness regarding how we worked and why it mattered. To address this, Daastan’s team geared up to hold campus drives all across Pakistan.
How to Connect with Daastan:
The idea was simple; we invited our family online to drop us an email at merasawal@daastan.com or message us on our Facebook page or website if they wanted us to visit their campus. From there on, the team of Daastan would try to reach out to their resources in the said city, get in contact with the authorities or concerned people at the University campus they were planning on visiting, set a date and arrange a small event to which students would be invited. The invites that followed were received from all sorts of individuals of our community. We visited campuses where our members worked or studied, Universities in which we were hosted by our published writers and story competition winners, and places where we were invited simply because a person chose to volunteer with us as a literary activist to learn about self-publishing and get their fellows interested in literature.
The Impact:
What started as a few visits to some universities, ended up as a full-blown offline movement in which more than 40 campuses were visited to gather the literati from all over the country and walk them through the literature industry and its workings in the most transparent way. We were welcomed into campuses of Karachi such as NEDUET, to those of Multan like Bahauddin Zikriya University. In Lahore doors of the UMT were opened to us, in Islamabad those of COMSATS, and in Rawalpindi we made waves in a session so exuberant in FUMC, it left a mark on all that attended it. The team would go spearheaded by one or another executive member, hold an interactive session with the students and answer their questions regarding Daastan and Qissa publishing, set up a stall with our published books and cool bookmarks, and connect with all the hidden gems of the literary community.
Team Daastan at UMT Lahore
Honorary Invites:
Along with this, the team was also invited to speak in numerous literary fests all across Pakistan. Our Managing Director was invited to speak as a panelist in King Edwards Literary Festival ‘17, while Daastan’s founder himself, accompanied by Ms. Sameen Aziz – graduate of Daastan’s second batch of Literary Fellowship, represented Daastan at KATH ’18 . In each campus drive, a prize distribution ceremony would be held to appreciate our writers.
Daastan’s co-founder Sidra Amin, has been long known to be the fairy godmother of mentorship, and always has an eye out for talent that she can groom and launch forward into the world. It was through her that Laiba Sehrish Nawaz first came in contact with Daastan. The beautiful 18-year-old girl from Peshawar, who was a student of journalism, had faced many a trauma since the young age of 9, when she lost her mother to breast cancer. Since then, Laiba suffered at the hands of anxiety, depression, and abuse. Her only solace lay in one thing, putting to words all that weighed her down. Writing to both unburden herself, and also preserve each emotion that found its home in her heart. This was how at such a young age she compiled a complete book of her very own work, and was seeking a publisher to help bring her work to print and start her career as a distinguished writer.
[TRAILBLAZERS] Presenting a brand new product where we showcase Daastan's social impact on community. See how we are challenging the status quo and providing authors the platform through which they can chase their dreams.Our first ever trailblazer is Laiba Sehrish from Peshawar who lost her mother at a tender age of 9. She fought her way through depression, anxiety and abuse to become Peshawar's youngest published author at age of 19.Her debut book 'Abductions from Lethe' has inspired readers across the globe to stay resilient in face of hardships. Using Daastan's platform, Laiba was able to raise 35,000 PKR in three days through pre-orders to publish 100 copies of her work. She earned the title of 'Daastan's fastest and youngest crowdfunded author'.Her life turned upside down when she had to take some tough choices in her life. She chose to follow her dreams and passion over her family and friends. Hence she moved and resettled in Quetta.Her books arrived a week ago and the biggest issue which we faced was to cover her travel costs so she could fly to her hometown for her book launch. However, we are pleased to inform that some angel from our community stepped forward and helped us raised 20,000 PKR in mere five minutes of announcement.Our #EmergingStar Laiba is now all set to be a part of the book launch which is scheduled in Feb'18. If you believe in what we do and want to support us then place an order of her hard copy @ https://www.meraqissa.com/book/154Price: 1000 PKR#Daastan #EmergingStar #TrailBlazer #LaibaSehrish #Peshawar
Her book, Abduction from the Lethe, was put up for a crowdfunding campaign, and that is when she bagged the second honor of her professional journey with us – shebecame the fastest crowdfunded author, breaking all previous records and raising her required funds of 35,000 PKR in a week’s time. It was heartwarming to see our community so ready to support a girl destined for greatness.
In the May of 2017, her book went into print. She was later on interviewed by a news TV channel Mashriq, in which she talked about her upcoming book, her struggles, and how Daastan was empowering writers to seize their destiny and materialize their dreams.
A quote from Laiba’s book, Abduction from the Lethe
The Book Launch:
In the beginning of 2018, her book launch was held in the city of Peshawar. Laiba, having moved to a different city to pursue her passion and study journalism, lacked the funding to fly back to her city for her book launch. Once again, our community came to the rescue, and we raised a fund of 20,000 PKR to cover her airfare. Her book launch was a huge success, where numerous dignitaries from the literature community were present along with creatives and poets, and was covered by Dawn News.
If you have a manuscript that you’d like to see brought to print and become the next sensation of Daastan’s literary community, drop us an email at merasawal@daastan.com or a message on our Facebook page.
Over the years, Daastan has had the pleasant opportunity of involving with us individuals from all walks of life, to help us rework and rebrand the literary industry of Pakistan. We have had intellectuals of the highest order, those seeking Masters and PhD degrees and on the forefront of the pack who will change the world, and also those who carried a dream in their eyes and a fiery passion in their heart, but due to lack of opportunities were not able to put their ideas to work. It was people like these, who rose from the bottom and shot for the skies, that inspired us the most. And so, we decided to showcase their talent to the world.
The Concept:
We at Daastan coined a product by the name of “Trailblazers”, to exhibit the life, the struggle, and the consequent successes of those who we had seen grow. These were the people who we believed walked a road previously not taken, lighting a fire to help all that would follow in their wake. We wanted our community to see how these people’s efforts landed them in a place where they were socially impactful, and empowering not only themselves but also all those who were connected to them.
Sameen Aziz:
One such person, who challenged the status quo and rose above the rest, is Sameen Aziz. Though raised in Balochistan, considered the land that offers the least opportunities, she found a passion in her soul for the arts, that started from photography. Over the years, that hobby lead her to learn design, and she caught a lucky break and started working with literary platforms likeZanjabeel – A bookstore by Nemrah Ahmed and The Ancient Souls. Eventually, she joined Daastan as a Literary Fellow of the second batch, and worked on opportunities related to design, and that which was to become the basis for her profession later – digitizing. During the fellowship, she along with four literary activists digitized a beautiful but forgotten masterpiece by an Urdu legend, Hazrat Zaka.
Harf Nagar, A digitizing company by Sameen Aziz
The Formation of Harf Nagar:
Upon her graduation, having found a niche for herself which she excelled, she took the step of forming a company which would help authors in digitizing their content, and making it print ready, naming it “Harf Nagar”.
After serving as CEO for half a year, she turned her operations over toMs. Qudsia Jamali– another one of the graduates of Daastan’s Literary Fellowship and an Urdu Editor at Daastan. Ms. Qudsia then served an Urdu legend Asrar Jamyee, and digitized his manuscript “Tanz Paaray”. They were Daastan’s company of choice, when we secured the rights to republish Kashmir’s first monthly print magazine“Shahadat”, so as to digitize and bring to the public all that literature which was on the verge of extinction.
Asrar Jamyee, smiling as he holds up his published manuscript
#FounderDiary: Turning your passion into profession is a luxury which not everyone is able to afford. I am blessed to have been given this opportunity by Daastan.I was raised in Balochistan and then we moved alot. I experienced life. I realized that art is the ultimate form of expression and I chose photography. Design followed and over the course of time, I got ample opportunities to work with literary platforms like Zanjabeel – A Bookstore by Nemrah Ahmed and The Ancient Souls.Ultimately, I signed up for Daastan's Literary Fellowship (Batch-2) where I was given opportunity to work on projects I never thought I would be able to get. I led a team of four literary activists, together we digitized a long forgotten Urdu masterpiece by Hazrat Zaka.As I was about to graduate, I chose to take a bold step to form a company which would help authors and publishers in digitizing content. Hence, my baby Harf Nagar was founded.I am extremely happy to announce that our brand has the honor to serve an Urdu Legend Asrar Jamyee and we digitized his manuscript titled 'Tanz Paaray'.Moving ahead, I wish to scale this initiative to a level that we are able to cover all regional languages of Pakistan. At present, we are dealing with Urdu and English.You can reach us to get print ready files or avail book composing service through us.I am rebranding the foundations of Pakistan's Literary Industry! Are you?Sameen AzizFounder9th Feburary, 2018#HarfNagar #ContentDigitization #BookComposing
Over the past one year of operation, Qissa has had the honor of publishing both young and old, of re-securing rights to previously published works and finding diamonds in the rough through the biannual conduction of the competition,The Stories Untold, and helping writers launch their writing careers by publishing their books both digitally as well as in print. The team believes that the younger ones who found their way to Daastan and got published, will turn into exceptionally brilliant best-selling writers because of their head start on those who never had the opportunity to share their stories with the public. And those who finally had the opportunity, albeit later in life, to publish their work – would bring an enormous amount of wisdom and knowledge to Qissa, sharing it with the world through us.
Ms. Faiza Kayani:
One such exceptional case was that of Ms. Faiza Kayani. A Sargentin the armed forces, Ms. Faiza joined Daastan to publish her debut Urdu poetry book“Muhabbat Gustakh Hoti Hay”. Her book was a wonderfully written piece which recounted the story of the numerous hardships and challenges she had faced throughout her life, and everything she counted on to keep her going. Born in a military background, her love to join the armed forces dominated everything in her life, and she finally achieved her dream by working harder than she had for anything ever. When she reached out to Daastan, she was serving as a commando in the Pakistan Army.
Muhabbat Gustakh Hoti Hay, Authored by Ms. Faiza Kayani
What Made Writing of the Book Possible:
Being a fine public speaker throughout her years of schooling, writing and poetry came naturally to her, and it is visible in the passionate way she expresses her feelings. Her book is about all the hindrances that a girl faces in our society, and provides motivation to the reader to rise above them and never bow down to anything that limits them. She encourages girls to specially to read her book, as she knows they will be able to understand and connect with her journey on an emotional level. If you are a girl, then this is something which you would be able to connect with on a very spiritual level. Her book raised 15,000 PKR through crowdfunding and was brought to print through us. If you have a manuscript that you want us to publish, reach out to us at our Facebook page or on our Website.
