As the winter of 2016 rolled in, with the Qissa self-publishing up and running and Daastan’s founder Syed Ommer Ammer enrolled in Telenor’s Velocity Program looking to scale the company and redefine the industry as per Daastan’s vision, the team decided to kickstart a fellowship program. The program, dubbed the Literary Fellowship, would enlist and take on fresh minds who were seeking to disrupt and change the game in the literary industry, but were lacking the opportunity or the proper guidance to do so. The team, having many such obstacles while trying to reach out to the public themselves, wanted to pave the way and make it easier for those who wanted to follow in their suit, and equip them with cheers and support rather than rejections and sneers.
The Launch and Subsequent Response:
The call for submissions for the debut batch went out in the September of 2016, and to our surprise more than 50 people applied for the program. Each submission was carefully pored over, to make sure the group that would be a part of the team in the upcoming three months were doers and believers who could push past their comfort zones. They were initially shortlisted to a group of almost 25 people, and after an interview session, the number was reduced down to the final 15, and that is when the magic began.
Literary Fellows of the Debut Batch
The Course of the Fellowship:
Over the next three months, the mentors from Daastan laboured day in and day out with their assigned mentees. Each fellow was given tailor made tasks to enhance their specific skill set, along with targeted guidance to help them do their work efficiently. The fellows were encouraged to come up with projects of their own, which Daastan would help them develop, launch, market and scale so at the end of the three-month period they would have a sustainable venture of their own to build on. After a few months it became clear, the fellowship program had become a huge hit.
Success Stories:
The success stories of the debut batch included Ms. Mahnoor Naseer, who co-founded a global digital publishing platform by the name of The Ancient Souls, and also helped us set up operations in India. She went on to become an Editor in Chief at Daastan, and train the next batch of fellows. Another graduate, Ms. Aroosa Mushtaq Malik, was video interviewed live on PTV World. Ms. Armin Bilquis, the youngest fellow of the batch, brought her poetry book to Qissa, and Daastan helped raise funds to bring “Melted Kaleidoscopes” to print. Order a copy here to support the author.
In the beginning of the year, Daastan hosted its first story writing competition that set the precedent for other seasons of the program that would follow. The first season was an unimaginable hit, with almost 100 entries from all over Pakistan. Daastan got to uncover some major talent and later on also published a book as a tribute to the top 5 position holders, titled “A Journey to Stardom”, which documented their struggles as a writer in a community which tends to overlook the artisans present in it. October of 2016 saw Daastan pitching for a micro fund of 2500 USD which it went on to win for season 2 of “The Stories Untold”. The fund was offered by the PeaceTech Lab under the banner of PeaceTech Exchange (PTX). PTX is a workshop-based competition which enables peace sustaining enterprises to contest and win the offered amount by pitching their idea and establishing how it will help underdeveloped regions utilize technology for the advent of peace, social inclusion and conflict resolution.
A War Within:
With funding under its belt from Peacetech Lab, PTX, Technology for Peace Initiative (TPI) and United States Institute of Peace, Daastan launched season 2 of “The Stories Untold” with the theme “A War Within”. This time around, we encouraged writers and participants to look deep into the conflicts and pressures faced by individuals on a daily basis, and chart out whole territories on how to deal with them, both as an observer as well as the victim. It was the perfect opportunity for every person who had felt caged at any time in their life to put that feeling to words and come out stronger and accomplished. The competition was split into two modules, which allowed Urdu writers to send in entries as well, helping us reach a part of the community we hadn’t been able to touch before. We also partnered with “The Ancient Souls” from across the border to expand our entry base, as well as the “Young Women Writer’s Forum Pakistan”.
Results of the competition:
As expected, the participants blew us away. We received more than 150 entries from all over the world of such high quality that it was a great difficulty to shortlist them. The qualifying rounds consisted of top 30, followed by top 15 and then the final winners. Each shortlisted candidate’s work was published digitally on Qissa, and the top ones also lived the dream of seeing their work go into print. The certificates and prizes distributed, along with publications, amounted to a grand total of 100,000 PKR.
Certificate for the winners of The Stories Untold Season Two
Are you a writer who has a story caged in their chests? Sign up on Qissa and publish your work, or keep up with our updates on Daastan to participate in our next story writing competition.
Daastan’s delegation led by Founder Syed Ommer Amer, and its executive member Nauman Shahid, had the opportunity to present for a micro grant at the PeaceTech Lab, which is locally run by Technology for People Initiative and United States Institute of Peace. The pitch was worked on for days and prepared to perfection, then finally presented at the event of PTX project. The event was a three-day conference which had over 20 organizations present, battling for a grant of 2500 USD funding, to execute a project which would help promote peace across multiple regions of Pakistan. It was a moment of great honor when Daastan was chosen as the winner of the said grant of 2500 USD, to conduct the second season of its story writing competition, “The Stories Untold ”, on the theme “The War Within”.
The PeaceTech Exchange Workshop:
The PeaceTech Exchange is a program by the PeaceTech lab, which helps the local community address frequently posed challenges by equipping their leaders with the ability to carve out solutions for said challenges based on technological tools. The program encourages hands-on activity of technology to tackle a variety of issues including but not limited to women and youth empowerment, education, social inclusion, etc.
The Stories Untold Season Two:
Daastan launched the competition within a few weeks of receiving the grant and the results were announced after a month of strict and diligent judging. The competition turned out to be a great success, and had more than 150 writers who participated and sent in their stories. The winners were shortlisted through three rounds, starting from the top 30 down to the top ones in each language, i.e. Urdu and English. The competition helped the writers in developing characters and plots from which the readers could take home viable lessons, of people that went through strenuous external pressures, and had to face or overcome harsh aftermaths because of it.
A War Within, Season Two of The Stories Untold.
Keep an eye out for our updates on Facebook, if you want to participate in the upcoming competition and prove yourself as a writer.
Daastan launched its very first story-writing competition in 2016, providing the writers of Pakistan with a chance to prove themselves and let the tales that they carry inside them out. With the launch of this competition, Daastan was on the hunt for the emerging stars of the literary industry of Pakistan. It was targeting the storytellers who keep their world concealed from the rest of us, carrying within themselves a plethora of stories and scenarios which never see the light of the day.
The Criteria for the Competition:
The theme of the competition was ‘Perfect Imperfections’. The Stories Untold expected the authors to talk about the people or sections of the society deemed as ‘imperfect’, and how they are above any such label and rather are very much worthy to be branded as ‘perfect’. The authors were encouraged to write about local characters, settings and plots, so as to make it relatable for the readership of Pakistan. The target also was highlight and in turn humanize the transgressions against minorities and any other convention violating body that is ostracized for its inability to ‘fit in’. The entire concept of the theme was to present everyday harsh realities in a way that would spread awareness about the social issues plaguing our society, and for the authors to develop their characters in a manner which would enable them to face and beat the odds.
The word count was limited to 4000-6000 words, and the language of entries was specified to English only. Almost around 100 submissions were received in a short span of five weeks, making the competition a monumental achievement for the team of Daastan.
The winners:
What followed was days and weeks of meticulous and careful analysis, which carried the top stories through various rounds of the competition. Initially, the top 30, followed by the top 15 of the entries were announced. These would go on to be published on the Qissa website, and made available for everyone to read. The winner, Wafa Zaka writer of ‘Cursed and Healed’ was selected from the top 5 after her story was put through a grueling contest. She was awarded a cash prize of PKR 10,000, along with publication both digitally and in print with a designated ISBN.
The winner of The Stories Untold Season 1
If you want to participate in one of our writing competitions, keep an eye out for our updates on our social media pages such as Facebook, so the opportunity doesn’t pass you by.
After a gruesome year of rejections and heartache for the founders of Daastan, we finally had our break when the company and its vision was incubated by Plan9 in 2015. Since then Daastan has been rising to the top and jostling the otherwise stagnant and dying literary industry of Pakistan. Earlier in 2016 Daastan published its first novel and has already started working on the publication of its second novel, all the while having already shipped out its very first orders. All this, however, was just the stage being set for a groundbreaking achievement that was yet to come – being selected as one of the Top 25 Startups in the Pakistan Startup Cup Challenge.
What is this Challenge?
The Pakistan Startup Cup challenge is a business model competition, which welcomes all kinds of business ideas from all over the country to compete among each other, meanwhile empowering them from a grass-root level to grow and flourish their business, and provide them with insight of the experts on how to build sustainable ecosystem. The challenge is a brainchild of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Islamabad, and is held in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan.
Daastan rising to the top:
The Startup Cup Challenge received almost a thousand applications from all over Pakistan. Only 130 of those were called to be a part of the challenge and participate in round one, i.e. Build a Business Workshop, and after a tough competition the top 25 made it to the next round, Daastan being one of them. Daastan eliminated more than a hundred mature startups, which were assumed to be better in theory by those who thought literature is dead end when it comes to business. It was the winning of this cup, that proved everyone who thought that way wrong.
Our team consisting of Founder Daastan Syed Ommer Amer (right) and Co-Founder and Editor in Chief Sidra Amin (left)
Team Daastan exhibited Qissa Self-Publishing launched by Daastan for Pakistan’s budding authors, which enables them to bring their work into print ready format and get it published, without the hassle of going through the legalities themselves. If you have a manuscript and are looking to get published, reach out to us through our Facebook or sign up on Qissa.
