Creative writing as a professional career in Pakistan seems to be a little bit like sushi: no one seems to ‘get’ it, most people have never tried it – and only the elite can afford it. It’s certainly not something that would be encouraged or even considered a career. More like a hobby or a weekend thing.
I remember reading that Awais Khan was laughed out of colleges for suggesting a creative writing course in Lahore. Pakistan offers no MFAs in creative writing, not even by the bigwigs (IBA, LUMS, AKU or the University of the Punjab). It doesn’t help that Pakistan has an almost non-existent publishing industry especially when it comes to fiction.
And yet there are Pakistani writers. There are great Pakistani writers – Moni Mohsin, Mohsin Hamid, Osman Hanif, Safinah Danish Elahi, Fatima Bhutto, Mohammed Hanif, Kamila Shamsie – and so many more, who publish in UK, US or India. And there are any number of other writers who could possibly be great, but who for now are average, unpublished, and/or unguided.
There is some promise, though. Zain Saeed, professor of creative writing at Habib University recently announced his three-part The Workshop. Awais Khan has been running The Writing Institute for a few years. And yet these are the few serious options one can find, even for adults.
Great writers need years of honing and guidance, which means children must be seriously taught creative writing. It is for this reason that I’m offering a creative writing course in DHA Islamabad (phase II) for children 10-17 year olds.

This short story course is for children who are already writers but don’t have opportunities to get their work critiqued. Children who want to write, who know they can write but just don’t see much motivation to actually do the writing.
In this course I’ll be taking students step by step through writing a short story, which (if they put in the work!) they will finish writing by the end of this course. With my 12-session workshop I want to foster an environment of creative imagination and writing validation that will hopefully contribute to future writing success for these kids.
The creative writing classes start June 9th 2023 and will be thrice a week, though unfortunately not online yet (only in DHA phase II Islamabad). I’m already excited to read their work. Who’s in?
Written by : raaziasajid
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