I recently came across this publishing initiative on instagram. Since I found their project so fascinating, I requested the founders for more information so that I could lend them my support and introduce them to my readers.
Launched by Anam Sajid and now managed by her and her two colleagues Wujiha Jamil and Fuzeela Zubair, the Rhizomatic Literatis describes itself as follows:
Rhizomatic Literaties started off as an initiative by AnamSajid,who at the time was a lecturer at National university of Modern Languages, who then recruited Wajeeha Jamil and Fuzeela Zubair, both of whom are students at the National University of Modern Languages. The three of them shared among them a passion for writing and the thirst to do something about the literary situation of Pakistan. No one buys books. No writer knows who to contact if they want to be published. Even teachers who are teaching literatures at university levels can’t help their students. Fuzeela asked a teacher about interning options or gaining any experience in the field of publication or anything and she got the response, “Beta ap teaching kar lo kisi academy mein.”
Keeping this scenario in mind, Anam wanted to start a project that aimed to remedy these dilemmas. And so, Rhizomatic Literaties was created. Their initial idea was to put together a book of short stories so that a lot more people could be given a chance to put their name out there and also because it was more cost effective. Publishing is not a cheap task, and so to divide the load among people seemed like a better alternative. The main focus of this first collection was students, but a campaign to hunt for writers was started on whatever platform they could reach. While they had taken the initiative, their hopes were not very high. The response they got exceeded their expectations and soon they started getting submissions.
After giving a deadline they selected 15 candidates and held a meet up in Lahore. This meet up was to give people assurance of the authenticity of their project and explain what was going to happen next. They were given a month to write a short story, 10 of which would be selected for the final book.Fast forward to present month, a final meet up was held for the selected writers where everything was made official. contact them for more info @ https://www.instagram.com/rhizomaticliteraties/. Volume I of Rhizomatic Literaties is just the first step the three of them hope, inshaullah.
This is an extremely important initiative and since these writers have a long struggle ahead of them, they could certainly use our support.
So, please take a look at their project and follow them on Instagram to stay informed about their next ventures. I offer these young writers my full support and best wishes.
