Why keep your talents hidden in this Information Age when you have all the ease and convenience to share them with world? Why, for instance, something as natural as free writing, something as heartfelt and poetic as well-articulated literature be locked deep in an old drawer?
A budding literary movement
Why keep your talents hidden in this Information Age when you have all the ease and convenience to share them with world? Why, for instance, something as natural as free writing, something as heartfelt and poetic as well-articulated literature be locked deep in an old drawer? Writers in Pakistan have ample opportunities to portray their skills, be it writing books, conducting poetry slams, or inaugurating publishing houses.
Even though the country is culturally rich, the need to come up with a platform for emerging writers was sorely felt. A case in point is Abdullah Khan whose debut novel “The Timeworn Silence” had been published by Daastan. Seeing his passion for blogging, his uncle had already promised him a blog site; for Abdullah, this came as an opportunity to launch The Scribbled Kite (TSK), an online literary e-magazine, instead.
“I realized that no other e-magazine was supporting literature online in Pakistan. It used to be all about print. Hence, I took it upon myself and on November 28, 2016 TSK came into being,” Khan, CEO and founder of TSK, said.
He started with a blog post; he had no intentions of going global. But the chain of events took a sudden turn with a simple status update on Facebook and soon 27 writers from both Pakistan and world over were part of TSK family.
Each person is assigned tasks according to his/her area of expertise - poetry, prose, excerpts, flash fiction, essay, book review, etc. Amateur poets like me, for instance, will be grouped together in the “Team of Poets”.
“A new category “Spur” has been introduced. It might be Pakistan’s first motivational video chain whereby anyone could get their motivational sayings and excerpts featured in a video, which will then be presented to a wider audience,” he added. “It makes everything more fun.”
TSK is not just a platform; it feels like home, a home to cultivated minds regardless of their age or race. It is all about contributing to literature, about setting an example and, especially, about promoting Pakistani writers, poets and philosophers on an elevated level. Together, we laugh and work, discuss ideas and challenge each other with prompts and creative writing tasks; if that gets us some recognition and earn us some respect, what more could young writers ask for?
In fact, most of the writers have already got their books published. Aakif Azeem, one of the APS survivors and human rights activists, is also part of TSK; his debut book “The Darkness Within” is due to release soon. Ateefah Sana Ur Rab is yet another shining star who has had three books published through Daastan so far. Aisha Esbhani, the youngest member, is also a great asset to the cause; she started the “Reading books from every country” project. In a nutshell, each contributor is gifted in one way or another.
We have ample amount of creativity in Pakistan; at the end of the day, all we have to do is to become the means of support and a lantern in the dark.
The Scribbled Kite fellowship programme will start from June 2017.
