Page Turners February Meet
Advisor to the Book Club “The Page Turners”, Mr. Sikandar Khan Tangi, arranged a meeting of the club on the 27th of February. The meeting was graced with the presence of literary personnel such Mr. Muhammad Farooq and Mr. Muhammad AwaisQarni. Mr. Muhammad Farooq did his Masters In English (MA) from the University of Peshawar and Mphil from Islamia College Peshawar. He has been teaching Literature at university level for the last ten years. He teaches Drama and History of English Literature at the Department of English and Applied Linguistics, University of Peshawar. His research interests are Postcolonial Literature, the issues of the marginalized segments of the society and Representations through literary texts, especially fictional narratives. He has three research papers to his credit. Besides teaching, he is a certified trainer with the British Council and the USEFP. He has conducted a number of training workshops on Presentation and Communication skills; GRE; IELTS, and Report Writing. Moreover in summer 2015, Mr. Farooq visited the US where he attended English Language Administration Academy and earned a certificate of TESOL i.e. Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
Mr. Muhammad AwaisQarni has done his PhD from the University of Peshawar. He has authored two books namely, “ParbatonKy Us Paar”and “Krishan Chandar Ki ZihniTashkeel”, which has even earned an award. Mr. Qarni is also an afsananigar and a poet. He has been participated in numerous national literary conferences. Furthermore, he has remained Joint Secretary of HalqaArbabZoq Peshawar.
The ceremony was formally inaugurated by Dr. Amir Taj, who read out a poem by the renowned Pakistani poet, Ghalib.
Afterwards Mr. AwaisQarnitook the reins and commenced by praising and celebrating Ghalib and the non-reciprocity of his exceptional contribution to Urdu Literature. He went on to discuss the evolution of “story” since the beginning of times.
“The process of storytelling began as soon as man took his first steps on earth”
Mr. Qarnisaid the pattern and trend of storytelling in the subcontinent took a turn when intellectuals of the region sat down in Lucknow in 1917 and shifted the attention from Roman-oriented stories and folktales to what they are today. Moreover he talked about “Shaoor” and “Lashaoor” i.e. consciousness and unconsciousness and their role in the life of man. Here the notice of the discussion shifted towards the outspoken and unjustly maligned poet, Saadat Hasan Manto. Mr. Qarnimentioned how there was little to no barrier between the conscious and the unconscious aspects of the poet in his poetry, which is why Manto was deemed uncouth towards the “civility” of the society in his works.
Afterwards there was a session of short-story and poetry reading by the students. In this segment, students read out their short stories/poems before the audience and the judges. Among the participants in this segment was Mr. Uzair Zafar (BBA), who read out a short story he had written called “Coming Home”. He was followed by Mr. Waqar Ahmad Paracha (BBA), who read out his piece called “Meri Rai, Meri Qoum” in Urdu. Next in line was Mr. YahyaHaider (BSC Social Sciences), who read out a song he had written in commemoration of a particular lady. Mr. Yahya was followed by Miss MawaImtiaz (BSC Social Sciences), who read out her poem titled, “What is Love?”. The penultimate presenter was Miss MominaArif (BSC Social Sciences), who read out a shorty story written by Miss Ayat Zaheer(BSC Social Sciences) and the last piece, a poem titled “Mankind”, was read aloud by its author, Mr. HamzaAzam (BSC Social Sciences).
The segment was followed by a talk by Mr. Muhammad Farooq who provided feedback on the poems and short stories read out before. He further explored the annals of literature with the audience and provided a taste of it.
“Literature is different than journalistic writing. Where Journalistic writing is bound by the impediment of time and place, literature transcends it”
After Mr. Farooq’s exchange of thoughts, the judges announced the students with the best literary pieces presented in the prior segment. The judges comprised of Mr. SardarDaud, Mr. Muhammad Farooq and Mr. Muhammad AwaisQarni. The best presenters were MrUzair Zafar, Mr. Ahmad Paracha and Miss MawaImtiaz, in that order.
The ceremony officially concluded with the winners being awarded with certificates and the judges awarded with gifts in the shape of books. Ms. RiffatNaz was appreciated for providing the venue for the ceremony at the Lincoln Corner, IMSciences. Afterwards, all the attendees headed towards the cafeteria for refreshments.