Type away!

Ms. Procrastination over stayed her welcome, hence the blog was not updated for weeks but I've got to write now. Sometimes I feel like I'll explode or die of an emotional overload if I don't write. I know I must but sometimes, I just don't.

Anyway, I'm sure nobody who reads this blog wants to comb through my mental debris so I'll let you know something that may interest some of you. I'm getting myself a TYPEWRITER! Okay so I have wanted to get one for the longest time but wasn't able to find it in my city but now I finally know where I can get it from and next week I shall be typing away from the ultimate writing machine of the 1800s. 

I think my love for typewriters and other vintage items stems from a fascination with bygone eras, very much like Owen Wilson's longing to belong to the early 1900s in Midnight in Paris. Something about the fantasy-nostalgist theme of this movie made me wonder how incredible it would be to personally know these writers from almost a century ago who are now considered literary Gods. What insecurities had they faced in regards to their writing? Self doubts? The extent of their passion? I want to know everything about them!

I can't jump back in time but I can own something that was used by them, and so, using a typewriter is my way of getting a little closer to the writers I've admired all my life.

Source: molsrock.tumblr.com

Books are magic!

"What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic." - Carl Sagan

Pakistan’s first online library!

Originally published in Unique Pakistan

Very rarely would you hear of libraries being opened up in our country. However, a lack of public reading spaces doesn’t necessarily signify a lack of reading culture. This can be proved by the success of an innovative business venture called The Readers Club, launched in 2009 by the enterprising duo- Usman Siddiqui and Jawad Yousuf. The Readers Club is a vast online library consisting of thousands of books that can be borrowed once you subscribe to the website. It is Pakistan’s first book rental service.   

 I stumbled upon their website two years ago. Excited by the vast variety of books available for a small monthly membership fee; I instantly became a member and filled up my bucket list. I had the books delivered to my house the very next day. With excellent customer service, efficient delivery and good quality books, I was won over. A year later The reader’s club sister website Kitabain.com (Kitabain is urdu for books) was launched. This is a platform where you can buy and sell books online. Perfect for those looking for books at a lower price delivered to their house and those wanting to get rid of stacks of books consuming space in the house. Kitabain.com also received the Service Innovation award at the P@SHA awards, Lahore in October, 2010.

An effort such as this one must be applauded as it not only promotes reading but makes books much more accessible and affordable for a majority of people. Last year in December, at the annual Karachi international book fair at Expo Centre I was delighted to find a stall by The Reader’s Club offering numerous books at quarter the original prices. It was probably one of the best stalls at the fair, offering the most affordable books.

Their next project includes digitizing Urdu books into an audio format. In our country where the older generation shake their heads in disapproval of the young and their supposedly non-existent reading habit; an online library is a sign that there are still ambitious people who cater to readers in Pakistan and a significant number of people who consume such services.

 Here is a video about them!

Happy reading!

Stunning Book Art!

It kills me to see books and papers turned and twisted mecilessly but I find a bit of consolation in the fact that these are old newspapers and books turned into wonderful pieces of art. Just goes to show the uselfullness of book!

                                                             A tower of books 

                The Argentinian artist Marta Minujin has built a tower of 30,000 books.

    

 The tower was built to celebrate Buenos Aires' nomination for World Book Capital 2011.

 

 "Paper Elegies"

 Nick Georgiou uses old books to make these colorful artworks

                                                    

                                           

                                                        Carved book landscapes

Artist Guy Laramee says about his work: So I carve landscapes out of books and I paint Romantic landscapes. Mountains of disused knowledge return to what they really are: mountains. They erode a bit more and they become hills. Then they flatten and become fields where apparently nothing is happening. Piles of obsolete encyclopedias return to that which does not need to say anything, that which simply IS. Fogs and clouds erase everything we know, everything we think we are.

Cascades of books

  Artist Alicia martin transformed thousands of unused books into columns that pour out of windows of historical buildings in Madrid into the streets.

 

                                       These over sized sculptures are definitely one of a kind.

 

Sources: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2OceD5/:pZK9eOfY:Tj2GO3yC/www.thisiscolossal.com/2011/12/carved-book-landscapes-by-guy-laramee/
http://www.walltowatch.com/view/2000

Of books and Pakistan

First published in Unique Pakistan

A few years ago, Pakistani writers were globally unheard of. Fast forward to today and you’ll see Pakistan’s literary landscape flourishing. With international awards and widespread acclaim to their merit, Pakistani authors are making waves in the literary circles and casting their magic. Pakistani novelist writing in English are now being hailed as the new generation of intellectuals propelling the country’s almost non-existent reading culture forward and garnering attention for the country due to their immense talent.

The likes of these young guns include Daniyal Mueenuddin, Kamila Shamsie, Mohsin Hamid, Mohammed Hanif, Bina Shah, Bilal Tanveer, Ali Sethi, Nadeem Aslam amongst many more. Dealing with themes of religious extremism, racism, politics, class division, war and love, these novelists are weaving complex and epic tales with their distinguished style. Their popularity can be measured by the crowd that turns up in droves to attend their sessions in literature festivals in Pakistan and India as well as the prestigious awards they have been nominated for and won.

For the last three years, Karachi Literature Festival has been accelerating the process of the resurgence of writing in Pakistan. Every year it’s becoming bigger and better, bringing together the biggest names in literati from various countries. This year the festival showcased brilliant talent to the literary starved audience of Karachi by presenting an astounding number of 150 authors, poets, journalists, publishers, etc.

According to Kamila Shamsie: ”Pakistani writing is in it’s infancy”. While that may be true, Pakistani writers are surely taking the publishing world by storm.