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.
