First Draft

Her mornings always started earlier than mine – not because she liked watching the sun rise, bringing with it a new day and a much needed new beginning; her beginnings...

وہ زندگی جو میں نے گزار کر بھی نہیں گزاریوہ زندگی مجھ پر زار زار گزری ہے جامعہ مسجد کے مٹیا محل علاقے میںوہ جو ہمارا مکاں ہو سکتا تھااس...

When I lay ravished Under frigid skiesOvercast with knobbly vulturesWielding  mikes and cameras Swooping-ready scavengersMaa, don't let them rip The lasts of my tattered shirt.When my coffined bed is brought Your arms wrap and...

Being devastated by abortions twice, she spent almost alone whole 9 months in a hospital, earnestly awaiting her first live child. She beared with the toughest situation of having a...

Every night, at the moment, we see pictures of people who have risked their lives escaping terrible dangers. Day after day, reporters interview refugees marching through Hungary or arriving in...

Whenever I’m asked to recommend a modern Iranian novel, I have to keep three things in mind. First, unlike Persian classical literature—the works of such masters as Rumi, Khayyam, and...

  Non-fiction: Dunya Mikhailʹs "The Beekeeper" In a harrowing compilation of true stories charting the fate of women abducted by IS in Iraq, Dunya Mikhail shows how the best of...

Bookay Writing Competition- Second Place Jaan e tammana, Sometimes I'm baffled by this degree of misfortune that seems to have befallen you ... us! No matter how hard I try, your...

The life that I almost lived with you requires a thousand deaths to be relived. The lies that were told to us have become bitter truths for our survival. The...

The life I almost lived, the life I wish to hide in the tangles of the cotton inside the many cushions I keep on my bed, so I sleep with...