Book reading and writing has been a lost culture these days, and is taken place by kindle and e-book readers. An amateur writer could barely get a chance to publish a book by a well-known publisher. So, they end-up publishing their book at their own. Today, I have such a lady of courage Miss Irum Zahra with me who not only published her own book, but also started a publishing company. Her first book, Psychaotic has sold over 2000 copies worldwide! Her publishing company is now accepting the submissions for all genres and is presently providing proofreading, editing, formatting, E-book conversion, ISBN allotment, copyright, reviews, book photography, paperback printing, cover design and much more. So without any further delay, let us move on to the interview:

• Tell Us something about yourself and your background?

I belong to a family where books were and are considered a pathway to success. A family where life was a constant war between society and ambitions, I was one of the two daughters my mother had. To prove my worth to this society, I started my educational career with one thought in my head: I had to become someone important in this world. When I was featured in Humans of Pakistan, I told them the same thing I will tell every reader out there: Make yourself so strong that this world has no power over you. An opinionated girl with no father, how can she survive, but here I am, I am writing to cure all I have been through and all I will in the future. To tell about myself is to read every poem from Psychaotic. Watching myself break and then fixing myself, only to break again and the cycle continues. Now I am proud to call myself a writer and every time I look in the mirror, I recognize myself as a strong person who can give something back to Pakistan. That is who I am.

• When you started your writing career and through which medium?

I started writing when I was in grade 6. It was small passages and verses at first and then, I could not resist poetry. It got better with time. My teachers supported me pretty much.

I had my diary by me all the times. I used to scribble on pages and made notes. All those diaries later helped me compile Psychaotic. Writing career began with writing my debates and speeches for college and intercollege competitions and then for the college magazine. And that’s how it began.

• What were the thoughts behind starting your own publishing company?

When I first started contacting Pakistani publishers and the way they treated me, I was terribly disappointed. At that time, I thought I wasn’t good enough I felt the sense of rejection. They said and I quote: ‘We don’t want to waste or time and money on new writers’. Tell me this, if you won’t let new writers in, who else will? Foreign publishers? Yes, they do. They see talent and they run after it. 9 out of every 10 books of Pakistani writers are published by either India or US. Why? Because we are ignoring our talent and letting all our creativity rest in some other countries. I wanted writers from Pakistan to stay and love Pakistan, to write for Pakistan, to earn from Pakistan and to give it back to Pakistan. My idea behind Beyond Sanity Publishing is to create a platform where young writers can come, present their ideas and their thoughts and see them published, I wanted to guide them. Help them uncover their talents.

• Who designs the covers of your books, and what is the role of a cover in the book?

Book cover is the key to marketing your book. I sold 2000 books worldwide with a cover that was plain and simple, it presented a melancholy theme to the book. I will be bringing a new edition to the world in this month, with a brand new cover, darker and more relatable. That is because I want people to grasp the idea behind the book. See, a book cover defines a book. It gives the audience a perspective to see if they would like the book or not. I have an excellent team that works hard to do the graphic designing and to do the cover designs. The saying ‘judging the book by its cover’ is accurate to some extent. So 70% of your book sales are dependent on the book cover.

• Tell Us something about your poetry book Psychaotic?

Psychaotic is Pakistan’s first free verse Gothic poetry book. It has two concepts of Human nature in it. Psycho and Chaotic. It combined these two words to tell people the story behind a mind that is consumed by the chaos of this world and how it copes by using medications, drugs and people. It tells you about the life realities, death, love, life and dilemmas of our creation. Every bad experience will end and it will make you stronger than before. That is what this book is about. The challenges in our life, the loves we lose, and the war we win all encounters with traditions and norms. All in one book. Ha, it is the definition of a mentally unstable person finding its way back to sanity. I am happy to tell you that the first edition is sold out. All the best people are crazy. So Psychaotic is for those best people.

• How long it took you to write the book?

Psychaotic is a compilation of my life’s work. Everything I went through is in that small book. It is a collection of diary pages, 3.a.m. ramblings on laptop, cellphone journal entries, and O god it even has the bits and pieces I used to scribble on my registers in college. I guess you can spin it over the course of 6 years and then 6 months to find and select every single page I could find for my book. I remember I used to stay up all night, typing and typing to make sure no word gets left out. Finally, after 6 months, I had a 200 paged manuscript which I later edited and shortened to 130 pages.

• What was the inspiration behind the book?

The biggest inspiration was my own life, how it was tossing me around and making me suffer for a crime I didn’t commit and a life I didn’t choose. I learnt to live with it, I took solace in the words, I found them to be loyal and to be an anchor against all odds, opposite to all my fears and troubles. Words gave me a new life, a new purpose and a new view of life.

• How was the response?

Till now, excellent. I never thought I would get this much love, but I did. At 24, I am a published writer of an award nominated poetry book and I have crossed the stage of competing to a stage where I am invited as a judge at the competitions. What more can I ask for? I lost count of the moments where I had nothing and this book helped me through those times. I have countless reviews from around the globe. It was difficult to introduce Pakistan with a somewhat bold and outspoken work of poetry but I think I managed to do that.

• Your favorite books/author?

Thomas Harris, without any question. I adore his books. Silence of the lambs is my all-time favorite book. I wish I could meet Thomas Harris one day and tell him that he created a Psychopath God when he created Hannibal Lecter. I also enjoy reading books by Dan Brown. His book The Lost Symbol is one of my favorites. I have read that book 6 times. I love it.

• What are you working on these days?

I am working on my second poetry book, ‘Invicus’ which will be released in July. I am also working on a thriller novel and a paperback anthology featuring around 100 new writers from Pakistan and India.

• Did you do a press release, Goodreads book launch or anything else to promote your work and did work on it?

I did, I used social media to gain audience on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Twitter, Blogspot, WordPress, Tumblr etc. They are great sources of gaining audience. Using Goodreads was one of the biggest decisions I ever made for Psychaotic as last year, my book was the only book from Pakistan to reach semi-finals of Goodreads best poetry book of 2015 choice awards. I also launched the book in Islamabad and Lahore to interact with the audience directly.

• Any message for readers?

Never stop reading or writing or painting or dancing or creating music. These arts will make you immortal.

You can follow her and buy her book through her facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/BeyondSanityPublishing/

Official weblog : irumzahraofficial@gmail.com

Twitter: @IrumZahraOfficial

Us Magazine, The News international

The colours on the canvas

The brushes in the holder

The painting at the easel

The smudges on my apron

The colour dipped fingertips

The paint tubes

The old landscape

The twirling trees

with no chirping bird

The violet blue sky

With no sun

And you…

Leaning back on the chair

Facing the calm sea in silence

Seem a part of that painting

That remains incomplete

forever!

Written by: Zunaira Afzal

Us magazine, the news international

27th May 2016

http://www.thenews.com.pk/magazine/us/122944-POETS-CORNER

Love,

An eternal dream

A blink of eye can’t break it..

An eternal bound

A slight tug can’t separate it

from beloved..

A spiritual season,

life can’t partake it..

Beyond mortality..

Against all the rules of life

Love is..

Just “LOVE”.

_ _

Written by: Zunaira Afzal

Those tracks

Where memories lay…

And eyes

Where tears stay

Intend not to look around

But the eyes see

The mist of years…

That wouldn’t shed

In years…

The rolling wheel

Of days and nights

can never fill the spaces

Between you and me

And the memories

Lying on the pathways

Crushing beneath our feet

Would never grumble…

Written By: Zunaira Afzal

Published in: Us Magazine, The News International

1st April 2016

It stings me,
When you wear silence
And on the pages
Of my diary
Rhymes kept missing
Speak O love,
And complete my poem..

Written by: Zunaira Afzal

Published in: Us Magazine, The News International

I loved

and loved you more-

you loved

and left

me like a hollow body

with no soul.

Written by: Zunaira Afzal
Published in Us Magazine, The News International.

The tears of the rain fell

Into the lap of red rose

The rose wept so hard that day

And the leaves never knew

About the grief of the rose

In the illusion of pouting lips

They never heard the sighs it heaved

In the imagery of the seas of her eyes

They ignored the hollowness inside

But when the rain parted

And the breeze sang farewell

The leaves found the rose dead

They called the rain cruel

That took away her life

But the petals of dead rose

Prayed for another rain to come

And to never say, ‘good-bye’!

Written By: Zunaira Afzal
Published in Us Magazine,The News International.
Date Published: 7th August, 2015

Babrus is a 27 years old visual artist and animator who created Commander Safeguard when he was 19. Winner of the Youngest Art Director of Pakistan Award in 2006, Babrus is also the pioneer of 3D animation in Pakistan.

He started off his career at the age of 17 when he finished college. He could not study more due to some family issues. His life is a living practical example of struggle. For all those who think they can’t achieve their goals due to their financial constraints or because their parents don’t want them to study further but start working, here is a perfect paradigm to follow!

So without any further delay, let us move on to the interview!

Tell us something about yourself?

Babrus Khan: Basically, I am a Visual artist and Animator working as an Art Directer. I was born on October 13, 1985. People call me with different names i.e Babu, Juju, Babs etc. You can also pick one of them or give me a new one, I won’t mind. ^_^

My basic interests are love Comics, mangas, animes, music and drawing. I love Tsutumo Nehei, the Japenese visual artist. I love the music of Tool, A perfect circle, Opeth, Black sabbath, porcupine tree, oceansize. I love games and my favorite games are warcraft, kof, etc. My favorite cartoon character is Gats (berserk) and batman. I have a real crush on Rinoa (virtual character not real).

I think that I am an overrated self proclaimed artist, trying to make a name for myself. I highly appreciate the respect people gave me.

How did you start working in this field?

BK: When I just finished the college at the age of 17, I started working. Due to family issues, I couldn’t study more. I had to earn then. So, a cousin of mine brought me to a small company for internship. I worked there for 3 months and learnt things on my own then I did my first Head n Shoulders Black commercial which got noticed. Then a big company asked me to come and work with them. They trained me very well. When I was 19, I designed Commander Safeguard and by the age of 21 I was an art director.

I worked at Geo as an art director for 2 years then moved to Dubai and worked there for a firm as a Creative Head and then came back to Pakistan after a year to work with h2o productions as an art director for one year.

What is the role of digital art in our media?

BK: Digital art has two purposes; first is to cut down production time efficiently for traditional artists. Secondly, it makes it a bit easier for those who are not artists so, if someone says he is a digital artist it means he is in general an artist or a graphic designer now any form of art is part of entertainment media and digital art is a sub-genre of art. My skills are required in the field of production, broadcast and print production. It means movies, games and songs etc. I have established a good name in the field as not only a digital artist but also as an art director. I handle any form of art in any project that requires an art direction.

For Readers, kindly explain what an Art Director is?

BK: An art director is the person who visualises everything, how the environment of the film will look like? How the characters in a comic or cartoon will look like? How the lights will be? How the clothes will be and how the scenes will be? Everything.

Your contribution for kachee goliyaan?

BK:They use to feature my work as they loved it. Then, I started helping them in developing content of the comics and brainstorming as well.

How was the response of audience to your work?

BK: The response was kind of pleasant, at that time, when I started working I was VERY young; I was around 18-19 and I had no idea about the market and my work was western media influenced and people here at that time knew only about caricatures and political toons etc. They saw potential in my work and motivated me to get better as I worked.

What are the main themes of your work?

BK: As a professional my choice of themes dont have much to say since everything is client driven, but as a person, my personal interest is in macabre, surreal and sci-fi themes.

What or who inspires you the most?

BK: My primary inspiration is from games, mangas, animes, toons and comics but the person who inspires me the most is tsutomu nihei and frank miller.

How was your experience as a digital artist in a country like Pakistan?

BK: When you are a professional , part of a industry, specially “digital media industry” then countries don’t play. You then become a part of a global culture and follow global digital trends. When we start working in such a field we do have a giant question mark on our face as we are uncertain about the scope in our country but I assure you we are not less than what the world is doing, don’t let the environment or generation conflict confuse your mind. I started working when there were hardly 3 or 4 firms in Pakistan , it was fun back then and its even better now since its part of our media culture as well.

Your achievements?

BK: I was awarded for the Youngest Art Director of Pakistan, when I was 21. Also as a pioneer in 3D animation in Pakistan for being an animator of Commander Safeguard. I have been featured numerous times on tv talk shows, newspapers, blogs and also radio shows.

How do you see yourself in future?

BK: Its been nearly 9-10 years in the field for me so it is the future *laugh*. Well, I still have dreams and visions, for now I wanna keep doing what I do, which is to get better, explore and experience different things in this field then, in the future, I’d like to have a firm of my own but then things change as time goes by.

Any Message for young readers?

BK: I’d like to say that no matter what you are and who you are, do what your heart wants to do and do it with an open mind or you will make yourself a slave to the system, and its really not cool, not for you, your future, your family or for even your country. We all are a part of a world that loads us with responsibilities, we all have our roles to play, we should do it in a way we can be proud of. A person who tries is better than the one who follows someone else’s dream with the fear of failure. Remember, “Your mind is like a parachute, it only functions when it is open”

My Official Site:

http://code1310.deviantart.com/
_ _

Interviewed by: Zunaira Afzal

Interview of: Babrus Khan

Published in: Us Magazine

I love abstract things

broken and scattered ones

shards and ashes,

paints and brushes

To love carelessly,

To sleep timelessly,

To paint aimlessly,

your face always,

or is it a hallucination

of my mind

or it is a mirage

that keeps you around me,

How I came to love you

as you are a perfection,

and me,

an insomniac.

written by: Zunaira Afzal

published in: Us Magazine, The News