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.
Somewhere in the humdrum that was the year 2017, Daastan’s co-founder Sidra Amin took it upon herself to launch a platform that worked solely for the propagation of literature through offline events. For months before the forum was founded, Sidra hunted for literati and like-minded individuals with a heart filled with sheer love for literature and related arts. In mid-summer, it finally came into being, and was named ‘Words and Metaphors’. They had the pleasure of introducing to KPK its very first spoken word performance by their debut artist Mr. Kayenaat Hameed Khattak.
Words and Metaphors, KPK’s first Spoken word platform
Core Team of Words and Metaphors. Ms. Sidra (left), Ms. Kayenaat (middle), Ms. Hira (right)
Literary Evenings Volume 1:
Almost a year later, Daastan powered what was to become the signature event series of Words and Metaphors, titled “Literary Evenings”. The idea was to initiate a chain of events solely focused on encouraging the literature invested local community artists, and bring their work out into the open. The first volume of Literary Evenings, held in the city of Peshawar, had a two-tiered agenda. The first, was to hold a Poetry Slam Contest between the poets of the city, in both Urdu and English. The contest was divided into three rounds, each with its own unique theme to challenge the performer and their written content. A panel of three exceptionally qualified judges was assembled, which consisted of a research scholar pursuing her MPhil in Literature, Founder Daastan, and Co-founder Words and Metaphors, each especially suited to evaluate the poet’s abilities of speech, written word and body language.
The second purpose of the event was to hold abook launch for the most talented writer of Qissa, who also had the honor of being the fastest crowd funded author of Daastan, Ms. Laiba Sehrish Nawaz. Her book, Abduction from the Lethe, had hundreds of entries of poem and prose, which she had written since she was a little child, as well as art and photography that resonated with her work.
The turnout of Literary Evenings Vol. 1
The Footprint:
The event had an astounding turnout. More than 50 people showed up to witness the rise of the empire of literature, and cheer for those who had accomplished their dreams and visions related to it. The guest of honor was Dr. Nasir Jamal Khattak, a professor at the University of Peshawar who wowed the crowd with his soul-searching talk about realizing one’s inner potential.
Prof. Dr. Nasir Jamal Khattak, the guest of honor of the event
Three winners of the Poetry Slam contest were selected and were awarded gifts from Daastan. The book launch also received media coverage from multiple news channels, such as Geo News.
Ms. Wafa Farooq, the winner of the Slam Poetry Competition
Mr. Adil Yousaf, who stood second in he competition
Ms. Kayenaat Hameed Khattak stood third.
If you require services to organize a literary event offline, reach out and drop a message with Daastan or Words and Metaphors.
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.
Qissa, Daastan’s self-publishing platform which was treasured like a baby by the team and for which most of us worked day and night, took off so swiftly upon its launch as if it was a bird . Each day brought with itself significant happenings that overjoyed those working for its betterment, and made them even more invested in the platform.
Daastan’s Tree Branching Out:
The year of 2017 was a very fruitful one for Daastan, and by the end of it the team itself had grown so strong that quite a few started ventures of their own. The projects included but were not limited to Words and Metaphors, which was founded by Daastan’s Co-founder Sidra Amin, and was KPK’s first spoken word platform. Along with this, many of the Literary Fellows of Batch Two founded magazines, and service companies of their own. Daastan was now the likeness of a strong tree, with branches shooting off in every direction.
Details of Qissa’s Astounding Year:
In between all this, we were also chosen by extremely talented writers from all across Pakistan to publish their books. Qissa became home to the writing portfolio of an award-winning journalist with over 12 years of experience under his belt, Mr. Omar Iftikhar. This was followed by Daastan’s first ever international publication, by the name of “The Ancient Souls”, in which we finally got the chance to showcase Pakistan’s talent on a global level. We brought all 22 of the finalists of The Stories Untold Season Two to print, launching what was to be the start of professional writing career for most, and turned carefully preserved dreams into reality for all. Numerous crowd funding campaigns were launched for authors who chose us and trusted us to publish their work, which included Daastan’s first Urdu book in print, by Farheen Naz – a renowed digest writer, and an extremely bold publication titled “Why I Stopped Wearing Abaya” to highlight the social issue of imposed pardah on the women of Pakistan.
Daastan’s first Urdu book in Print by Farheen Naz
We at Daastan challenge norms and rebuild ideas
We preserved the work of a local Urdu literary gem, Hazrat Zaka, by securing the rights to digitize and republish his legendary work “Guldast-E-Zaka”, to make it available for the public on Qissa. An author whose book was a best seller on Amazon, chose Qissa to publish her second book “Before Time”, and brought her work to print. After getting more than a hundred writers on board, Daastan also published its first ever research work, written by Tayyab Khalil, Shahrukh Rashid and co., both engineers, which was carefully screened by PhD professors to ensure no erroneous content was present. The research, titled “Interview Guidelines for Mechanical Engineers”, aimed to help ease the process of job hunting for fresh graduates and drill them on the technical questions asked during interviews. If you are an freshly graduated engineer and are require tips to up your interview game, order your copy here.
The year of 2017 was ripe with opportunities
and avenues leading our company to the forefront, and we caught the eyes of all
those who at any point had undermined or rejected us. Right in the middle of
the year, our company Daastan’s
legal status was updated to Private Limited, and it was followed by the
highlight of winning
an investment of 25,00 USD on the show ‘Idea Croron Ka’, which aired
internationally on Neo Tv. From openings in the industry popping up and being
grabbed by our team, to setting trends and defining newer and wider boundaries
for ourselves, it was a year that brought to us all that we had imagined in our
wildest dreams and more.
Daastan on the news:
From the very beginning of the year, we were
featured in multiple news websites, such as ProPakistani,
and Upstart
and StartupRadar
for having bagged a spot in the accelerator program of Telenor Velocity. This
was followed by a very special news feature in TechJuice
which covered the book launch of our very first crowdfunded author and the
details on how team is striving day in and day out to reshape the literary
industry. This was followed by an onslaught of features, from EduGrid, PakPositivie,
to JournalPost
and ParhLo
– the word about Daastan was out and there was no stopping it. A very pleasant
surprise came after the mid-year mark when we started receiving the attention
of the higher end internationally viewed news sites such as Tribune
and Dunia News as well. Not only
this, but a section of print
newspaper was also dedicated to Daastan helping emerging authors get themselves
published, all the way in India.
A whole delegation from Daastan, consisting of
Mr. Nauman Shahid, Ms. Tehreem Hassan, Ms Aroosa Mushtaq and the Ommer, was invited
as guests in ‘World This Morning’ show by Shahzad Khan, aired on PTV World.
Each shared their own unique perspective on the workings of Daastan to help
spread the word and encourage more writers to join us.
The team at Daastan has always been a staunch believer in the power of education. Each person who was selected by the Founder, Mr. Ommer, was thoroughly filtered and judged to ensure that the person joining us would be exceptionally qualified, no matter which field they belonged to. Daastan has always rooted for happenings that brought with themselves the promotion of education in various different forms. It has engaged its community in hundreds of opportunities which would help them learn and grow, and also shared with them openings in schools, internships, fellowships, etc.
Our Role:
Daastan has also had a role to play in direct educational activities such as a storytelling drive conducted at a school to help spread and teach moral values. It has also provided adjudicates to various schools and universities all over the country who would guide the students regarding the skills they wished to learn. With such a history, when the team of Daastan got the chance to partner with an organization that worked for the promotion of inclusive education for differently abled kids, they were more than willing to contribute. The non-governmental organization, that went by the name of LIFE Welfare Foundation, required professional assistance in event management and content writing for World Disability Day.
Our Founder, Syed Ommer Amer hosting the event of World Disability Day
LIFE’s Event:
The event had student representatives from multiple schools for disabled children in Wah Cantt, such as Rise and Shine School as well as Young Muslim Inclusive Education. The program was held at POF Hotel, Wah Cantt and was hosted by Mr. Syed Ommer Amer himself. Mr. Ommer talked about the importance to enabling these children with basic life tools and providing them a chance at equal opportunities. The faculty also informed the general audience about the importance of inclusive education, and the practical steps taken by these schools to address the education of differently abled children. An awareness walk was conducted in which the faculty and students of these institutions participated, holding up banners and placards to help spread mindfulness regarding this issue and build an understanding in the public for it.
An awareness walk regarding World Disability Day conducted by Daastan, in Wah Cantt.
Are you seeking event content solutions and management services in the field of literature and education, and require a specially qualified team? Send us an email at merasawal@daastan.com to get started!
The year of 2017 has been an especially jam-packed one for Daastan’s flight to amazing heights. We have seen Daastan take over previously unventured media spaces, such as interviews and coverage on TV, Radio and Print media. So, when the opportunity to be able to write the script for and help create Pakistan’s first ever animated tv project arose, a show aimed specially at the younger generation, the team was overjoyed and jumped right in.
Tania Saves the Day:
Teetoo and Tania, a Unicorn Black Production, which is the creation, direction and production of Haroon, focuses on an all too familiar story, of Earth being judged as a target for extermination by an inter galactic council, due to its huge and negatively impactful indulgence in the industry of weapons and materials of mass destruction. The bureaucrat, also known as Teetoo, is sent to determine whether the situation on Earth is as dire as the council has been informed. Making pit stops around the world, his decision to exterminate is all but made, when he crashes and lands on the only country left which is to be adjudicated; Pakistan. Seeing his spaceship crashing, Tania, the protagonist of the series, helps Teetoo and saves his life. Ever grateful, Teetoo tries to warn Tania, and encourages her to leave Earth. She is horrified at the prospect of seeing her fellow humanity vanquished only due to the wrong practices of a few, and is determined to change Teetoo’s mind, by telling him all about the good people who exist on Earth, especially in Pakistan.
First episode of Teeto and Tania
The Series:
The series is composed of a total of 16 episodes, which were aired every week in the winters of 2017, with repeat telecasts, on PTV Home. Starting from the very first one, which featuredEidhi and his story of selflessness and service which has the ability to grip any kindly mind, each episode focused on a hero of Pakistan, the tale of their service simplified so as to help the children watching understand. These heroes were featured from all walks of life, with the series having dedicated episodes for each one. A few personas celebrated wereMalala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, and a female education activist,Aitzaz Hasan, the young boy from Hangu who sacrificied his own life to prevent a suicide bombing, Mona Parkash, Parveen Rao andMushtaq Chhapra (TCF) who are involved in the promotion of education, along with other celebrated names such asGhulam Fatima, Muniba Mazari, Shehzad Roy, Abrarul Haq, and Dr Ruth Pfauwho was awarded the Hilal e Imtiaz for her selfless efforts to eradicate leprosy in Pakistan.
If you have in mind the next hit plot, and require script writing services, drop us an email at merasawal@daastan.com to materialize that vision to reality!
Daastan launched its very first Literary Fellowship program in the fall of 2016, which turned out to be a huge success and an instant hit. This not only benefited the fellows, who were given multiple opportunities and exposed to a plethora of resources and networks, but it also helped the team of Daastan meet a very cool bunch of people seeking to improve the landscape of the literary industry in Pakistan. Upon their graduation some of them were also be taken on board – especially those who wanted to join in the cool happenings of our space.
The Second Batch:
With another year coming to a close, the team decided to make the Fellowship a recurring one, so as to spread the message of the revival of literature, by enabling people who were interested to come see it first hand and become a part of it as well. With the announcement of Batch Two of the Literary Fellowship program, submissions rolled in by the dozens. This time around, the team received more than a hundred applications, double the amount received for the debut batch. The applications were screened thoroughly, and around 40 people were shortlisted and called for an online interview session. A friendly discussion was carried out with each to determine their passion for literature, their willingness to work for the achievements of their dreams, and their past involvements in our field. It was an even harder job to screen for and select the bunch that would be joining Daastan for the next three months, but eventually 25 people were chosen to comprise the second batch of the Literary Fellowship. The selection was made on the basis of their clarity of vision, their justification for the claims they provided in the application form, as well as their relevant experience.
Poster for the Second Batch of the Literary Fellowship
The Literary Achievements of the Fellowship:
This time around, the fellowship
was divided into four categories, i.e. Marketing, Editing, Digitizing and
Design, and each fellow was made a part of the module they favored and/or the
module best fit for them according to their experience. What came together was
a group astounding in abilities which, after being groomed, bagged multiple
prizes. Two of the fellows, Ms Maham Syedain, and Ms Arooha Arif won
Silver and Bronze in US Story Writing competition, and Ms. Nadia won
an
Urdu writing competition on The Ancient Souls. Several of the fellows were
featured all over the digital media for their different achievements, and a big
bunch of them went on to graduate as well. Chief among them was Ms. Fatema Bhaiji, who launched a
Queer-Lit magazine designed specifically for literature focused on the LGBTQ+
community named “Outcast”.
Another fellow, Ms. Arooha Arif, launched a book club in her
hometown to encourage readership and connect like-minded people, and yet
another graduate Ms. Sameen Aziz launched a digitizing company by the name of “Harf Nagar”, focused on
providing digitizing and bringing handwritten content to print ready form. Many
of the graduates were hired into the team and given various positions. The
highlights of the second batch’s achievements can be viewed here.
In between the flurry of activity that was 2017 for the team of Daastan, the Founder Syed Ommer Amer must have found a momentary lull in activity, and that was enough for him to set Daastan on a course previously uncharted on but one it had full potential to tread. This road taken was the application to pitch in Pakistan’s first ever business reality show, in front of a panel of most distinguished, recognized, and successful businessmen of our industry, for an amount of 1 crore (10 Million) Rupees.
Daastan’s Delegation:
For most just the introduction of the TV show, with its intimidating numbers and seemingly very hard to impress investors, would be enough to faze them and make them reconsider trying their luck. For our team, it was that very thing which lit the fire that was to guide us through all that was to come. And so, after successfully clearing the ‘audition’ for the final pitch, team Daastan made its way to Lahore for the final showdown. The delegation that was to pitch on TV consisted of Waneeza Zaheer – a senior designer at Daastan passionate about literature and fully dedicated to helping Daastan scale newer and higher heights – and Syed Ommer Amer, the founder of the company, who requires no introduction except one: he is a force to be reckoned with, especially where his dreams and the future of literary industry are concerned.
Mr. Naeem Zamindar (middle), with Mr. Syed Ommer Amer (left) and Ms. Waneeza Zaheer (right)
The Pitch that Lead to the Win:
The wait for the final presentation lasted all day, with the pitch itself lasting more than half an hour. The team received commendation and applause from most of the investors present, which included Salim Ghauri, CEO Netsol, who especially praised Ommer’s speaking abilities, and Rabeel Warraich who mentioned how the team’s ready responses to all the questions posed were a pleasant surprise. Three out of four businessmen present did not step up to invest, however their space was filled in by Mr. Naeem Zamindar, CEO Acumen Pakistan and Chairman, Pakistan Board of Investment, when he offered 25,000 USD in return for 20% equity, and an unlimited amount of support to help breakthrough any ceiling Daastan might encounter. The team was able to negotiate it down to 15%, and the deal was celebrated.
Daastan scores an investment of 25,000 USD on Idea Croron Ka
In the wake of the success of the first two seasons of Daastan’s signature story writing competition “The Stories Untold”, one of which landed the team a fund of significant enough amount to bring the shortlisted authors of the competition to print, Daastan launched the third magical (pun intended) season of The Stories Untold sponsored by Aurochs, in collaboration with Words and Metaphors, during the summer of 2017. It was the team’s plan to continue fueling the fire of literature and encourage the creative ones among the public to squeeze out all they had and a bit more, and spin it into a tale. By continuing to hold the contest biannually, Daastan had uncovered a whole trove of creative writers and word magicians, who kept coming back to participate in the subsequent seasons and dazzled us with their unbounded potential.
Magical Pursuits:
Having addressed the serious and thought-provoking side of literature in the theme of the previous two seasons, the founders of Daastan decided to lighten the mood with a bit of fairy dust and themed the third season of the recurring competition, “Magical Pursuits”. This theme was picked to challenge the wildly imaginative among us, who have the creativity to step out from the door of reality into a world of magic, driven by the author’s self-made laws of the creation present there-in. Daastan made the perfect choice in the selection of the theme, as the literature of Pakistan was severely lacking in this genre, and so the entries poured in.
The Competition:
As proven by the previous competitions, hundreds of authors toiled to be a part of our family. Stories of 4000-6000 words were submitted to us in both English as well as Urdu, and all of them were screened very carefully to filter out the top few. The stories were judged mostly on the basis on the impact they created on the reader, on the writer’s ability to whip up whole plot lines and characters without loopholes, and how closely they stuck to the theme of fantasy. It was a battle of mythical levels, and the results were finally posted a couple weeks after the deadline closed.
Season 3 of Stories Untold, themed “Magical Pursuits”
In Pursuit of the Ultimate Winner:
The top 25 of English stories, and top 10 of Urdu, were thereon assigned to a team lead who acted as mentor and guided their writers to better their stories by having one-on-one sessions with them over 15 days, giving the writers a chance to strengthen their story and improve any mistake they may have made. The result was announced as top 15, followed by top 5 best stories, which trickled down to the undisputed singular winner in each language. The winning stories, True Justice by Naveed Sheharyar Khan and Kahani Jibraeel ki by Sonia Mukhtar were published in print, while the finalists were all published digitally.
Urdu Winner of Stories Untold Season 3
English Winner of Stories Untold Season 3
Want to be a part of the next Stories Untold Competition? Keep an eye out for the updates on our Facebook page!
In the summer of 2017, with the rush of incoming Stories Untold entries in the air and Daastan’s social media teeming with writers, poets, thinkers and dreamers, the team decided to dish out a series of writing prompts to encourage the flow of ideas. What started as an all too simple social media post to get conversations going, caught the eye of Daastan’s Founder, and he decided to turn it into a competition and put a reward at the end to motivate the writers even further. Thus, began the campaign of Mukhtasir Daastan, which lasted months and earned almost all those who participated goodies and discounts from various sponsors.
Magic:
A total of seven such prompt based competitions were initiated, each with a unique theme, requirements and prizes. What ensued was a flurry of creativity crushed into six-word stories. The first sponsored prompt was put up in collaboration with Jadugar and Co., a freelance graphic design company, and the theme was aptly titled “Magic”. The winners were given prizes which included discounts and a personalized typographic design.
Smiles:
The second in the series that followed was sponsored by Smiles.pk. They asked the audience to help them write their tagline, in return of a gift prize of 2500 PKR. Smiles.pk ended up choosing not one, but two winners. They liked two of the entries so much that they just couldn’t narrow it down to one.
Travel:
The third in the series of Mukhtasir Daastan was sponsored by Aurochs, a premium leather products manufacturing company which designed highly functional pieces with ease of use in mind. The theme of the six-word story competition was “Travel”. The top five finalists received a 50% off coupon on their products, while all those who participated also received a small discount as well.
Youth:
The fourth, and final one which was sponsored by another company, was held in collaboration with Forever21 magazine, a bi-monthly magazine seeking to empower youth. The magazine requested the authors to let their creativity flow, and no word limit was imposed. The winner received a gift bag in reward for her eloquently written piece on the theme “I want to be 17 again because…”
By Qissa Authors:
The last three prompts of the series were
sponsored by the authors published with Qissa. They fished out one lettered
theme of their books, such as “Adapt” for Unveiling the Unknown by Tooba
Arshad, and asked the writers to come up with a heart touching six-word-story
on it. The winners and participants were awarded multiple levels of discounts on
the books from which the themes were taken.
The final gift though, came from Daastan. It was promised from the very start of the series of Mukhtasir Daastan, that the team would hand pick the best ones out of all those who participated, compile, and publish it into a book, eternalizing the bird-like thoughts of each of the writers featured in it. If you are a writer and want to see your work published, drop us a message on Daastan!
Since its launch in the fall of 2016, many writers, novelists, readers and literary geeks have cozily nested at Qissa, making it a home for their writings. And it is for all these like-minded fellows that Daastan continually strive to improve the experience of the platform. Each day, we focused on opening our doors in newer and better ways to the public invested in improving their lives by incorporating literature into it. It is with this attitude of constantly bettering the platform and making the experience unlike any our community had ever experienced online before, that we incorporated a search bar, advance analytics of our author’s work, and many such nitty-gritty details. We addressed the issues that arose regarding the reading experience on phone browsers and made it seamless so it was available to all, no matter their mode of access. We also refined the website rating module so the authors could receive constructive criticism as well as due praise related to their works.
Founder, Mr. Syed Ommer Amer, on Qissa
Qissa 2.0:
The second big upgrade that followed, in the same year of its launch, was the incorporation of an in-built editor on the Qissa dashboard that supported not only English but also most of the major regional languages such as Urdu, Pashto, Sindhi, Punjabi etc., which put us ahead of any reading tool available online, enabling us to empower the writers of the languages and reawaken multiple dying literature industries, immortalizing them digitally.
Qissa 3.0 – The Talent Pool:
In the year 2017, our focus was furthering the betterment of the platform. We envisioned to raise it from a simple reading tool and self-publishing platform and introduce a game changing feature – Pakistan’s first creative marketplace that highlighted the professionals from our family in all their glory. The marketplace, otherwise dubbed as the ‘Talent Pool’ contained differently skilled and talented individuals, previously hidden behind the curtain, visible only to the team of Daastan. With Qissa 3.0, they were finally brought out into the open along with their gifts, including their previous writings and work-related history. Any individual or business looking for content solutions, an editor, a digitizer, or any such tailored request related to the industry, could now easily browse among our hand-picked finest, who were updated periodically, and hire them as per their requirements. They could also reach out to us on Daastan to get a quote.
The Finest Editors from the Core Team
Daastan’s Editorial Board
Literary Professionals of the Talent Pool
Always on the Top of its Game:
Near the end of the year, Qissa faced a huge data loss, in which more than 1000 accounts, and 70 books were lost. What followed was weeks of sleepless nights for the team, which eventually led to the restoration of most of the work, as well as the inclusion of a security system so as to ensure no such incident would ever happen again. Qissa not only pulled through, but also came out better.
#IStandWithDaastan
We ran a social media campaign where we recovered more than 70% of our lost data manually through community support. We keep stressing it again and again that we are nothing without the support of our community. Thank you everyone who stepped forward, when we needed you the most.
Having scaled the platform of Qissa to a considerable level, and upgraded it significantly to amp up its technology, Daastan started turning heads in the big communities. Within 3 months of the launch of Qissa, Daastan surpassed 10,000 likes on Facebook, its message reaching the nooks and crannies of Pakistan. With our team members being invited to high level events as speakers, and media coverage that had us tuning to one or another channel on a frequent basis to catch news related to us, it was high time that Daastan and Qissa Self-Publishing received recognition at esteemed platforms.
Connected Pakistan Conference:
The first such acknowledgement came as a nomination for the Best StartUp Award, being held at the Connected Pakistan Conference. The individuals who nominated us for the award remained unspecified, and even our Founder Mr. Syed Ommer Amer was left surprised when he received their invitation for the occasion which was to be held in Comsats, Abbottabad. This was the second time this conference of tech enthusiasts was being held, where dignitaries from various communities were invited and spoke to the crowd present. The highlight of the event was Daastan winning the Best Startup Award in the conference, which the company shared with very few notable startups present within the crowd. The conference was attended by a delegation from Daastan, consisting of Mr. Syed Ommer Amer, Founder and Mr. Nauman Shahid, MD.
Team Daastan comprising of Nauman Shahid (left) and Syed Ommer Amer (right), holding up the Best Startup Award
SATHA Innovation Award:
The second award came from an even more prestigious source. An international firm by the name of South Asian Triple Helix Foundationawarded Daastan a SATHA Innovation Award to applaud the effort that the team had made to help Daastan spread its wings, and the positive impact it had created on the lives of all those associated with the company. Along with being a symbol of hope and home to innovation, Daastan was serving as fuel for the dying embers of the literary industry. The award was received by Syed Ommer Ammer, who was accompanied by Ms. Spugmai Alee Khattak, serving as Literary Critic in Daastan.
After having read the entries of The Stories Untold Season 2 on the theme of “A War Within”, the team of Daastan found themselves incredibly moved because of each of the stories. They wanted to help further market these snippets of reality, to bring bits and pieces of it served as hors d’oeuvres to the readers so as to build their appetite for the main course of the meal – the book – that was to follow. The idea was to make the story penned down more relatable, to humanize the words, and build the audience’s relationship with their writers, helping the readers sense the emotions that ran through the authors as the phrases were put to paper.
Nashist:
The resulting movement that ensued, an innovative and ahead of its time podcast series, was named Nashist. Nashist, an Urdu word, literally translates to a ‘gathering’ or a ‘seated assembly’, and that is the exact effect we wanted to produce. We wanted our readers to come together as one and listen with their hearts while one of their own quoted the books, heavily focusing on the sentiments each word entailed. Each week, one of the top five finalists of The Stories Untold from each language was chosen, and a selection made from among its pages that would draw the listener’s breath away. One of our literary fellows of the debut batch would then narrate the appointed lines, over heavenly music produced by Moonlight Studios. The storytelling was done in such a brilliant manner that it shook the listener’s mind, helping them associate with the writer and empowering the writers by helping them communicate in a much more personal manner with their readers.
A few of the books chosen for the podcast included Across the Line by Abhirun Das, A War Within by Aaina Batool, as well Urdu books like Jahan Ara by Saba Ahmad and Ye Bande Tere Albele Se by Fatima Ambereen. The series was powered by PeaceTech Lab, PeaceTech Pakistan, and Technology for People Initiative, in partnership with The Ancient Souls and Young Women Writers’ Forum.
