Uzma Aslam Khan is a Pakistani author.

She has written five novels which include; The Story of Nobel Rot (2001), Trespassing (2003), The Geometry of God (2008), Thinner than Skin (2012) and her latest book is called The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali (2019).

In this episode of MIXTAPE podcast, I got to talk to her about her entire body of work without giving out any major spoilers for the readers.

Rizwan Takkhar runs a wedding photography business with his wife Palwasha Minhas, based in Lahore.

They are known for their unique photography style that is focused on capturing the stories and raw emotions of the events they cover. In addition to this combining his psychology background with his photography skills, Rizwan started a series on Instagram #CaptiveAutonomy.

In this MIXTAPE podcast episode in addition to talking about the storytelling aspect of wedding photography, he shares his journey of how he went from not ever owning a camera to now being a professional photographer. Rizwan is also one of the co-hosts of the TPR podcast.

Sher Muhammad Khan, popularly known by his pen name Ibn-e-Insha, was a Pakistani Urdu poet, humorist, travelogue writer and newspaper columnist. 

He was born in Phillaur, tehsil of Jalandhar District, Punjab, India on 15 June, 1927. In 1946, he received his B.A. degree from Punjab University and subsequently, his M.A. from University of Karachi in 1953.

During his professional career he was associated with various governmental services including Radio Pakistan, the Ministry of Culture and the National Book Centre of Pakistan. Ibn-e-Insha also served in the UN for some time which gave him the opportunity to travel, all of which served to inspire the travelogues he later penned. He was also quite active in the Progressive Writers Movement. 

Ibn-e-Insha is considered as one of the best poets and writers of his generation, and was awarded the Pride of Performance by the then President of Pakistan in 1978. He died of Hodgkin's Lymphoma on 11 January, 1978.

Shama Noman is a passionate educator, mother and occasionally flippant storyteller. She loves children and shares her classroom experiences via her educational initiative, The Y Teacher. She is currently working with The Emirates Literature Foundation and runs a children's story writing competition.

Sabdezar Irfan is a visual communication artist based in Lahore. She combines her passions of writing and illustrating to tell stories.

Grey Matter is her debut graphic novel that breaks the barriers of the medium and tells a story that we see quite commonly but talking about it is still a taboo.

You can get your copy by contacting Zuka Books via their social media.

Mehr F Husain is a Lahore based journalist and co-author of the first of its kind pop culture book, Pakistan: A Fashionable History. She has recently started her own publishing platform by the name of Zuka Books.

In this episode we talk about how good interviews tell great stories, her experience archiving Pakistan’s fashion industry’s history and the present and future of local publication industry.

Syed Ahmed Shah popularly known as Patras Bokhari, was a Pakistani diplomat, writer, humorist, and broadcaster. He served as the first Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations. 

He was born to a Kashmiri family in Peshawar, in undivided India. Shah early education was from Edwardes Mission School in Peshawar and later he studies English Literature at the Government College, Lahore. He moved to United Kingdom where he received his Tripos from the Emmanuel College, Cambridge. 

After returning to Lahore Shah taught English at Government College in 1927. He became a prominent part of the Muslim intelligentsia in South Asia. Shah moved to eventually become Director General of All India Radio in Delhi and then Principal of Government College. He was appointed as the country's first envoy to the United Nations in New York City from 1951 and 1954, followed by the Under Secretary-General of the United Nations for Information until 1958. 

Shah started using the pen name Peter, as a sign of respect for his teacher Peter Watkins, when he wrote in English. For his Urdu writings it became Patras. His collection of essays, Patras Kay Mazameen, published in 1927 is said to be a timeless asset to the Urdu humor writings. 

Hammad Anwar works in the public sector with a special interest in storytelling through digital communications. He is Founder of Sukhan and Co-founder of Mani's Cricket Myths. He is passionate about telling stories that are changing narratives, and in another life used to write scripts and comic books.

Saba Dar is an environmental professional and has worked in areas of water conservation and environmental sustainability with special focus on Water Stewardship in the Textile Sector, Climate Change and Water Security.

In her current capacity, Saba is currently working as a Consultant Water Stewardship Basin Coordinator for WWF-Germany and supports the development and implementation of Water Stewardship projects in the textile sector in WWF’s priority river basins in China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam and Turkey while facilitating coordination between all the basin teams.

She has a keen interest in framing the narrative on water around its value; cultural, social, economic and environmental and how action oriented efforts can help address issues associated with water scarcity. Her knack for storytelling translates into writing environmental stories for various publications.

In this episode of MIXTAPE we talk about the water crisis – the global challenges, the situation in Pakistan, narrative around the value of water, multi-cultural context and what can be done to preserve the most important natural resource.

Born in Heera Mandi, Lahore's famous red-light district, she is a tour guide by day and a classical singer by night. Despite the worst of humanity every day she remains the 'Troublemaker', unable to give up on her dreams. An Indian filmmaker encourages her to enroll in a music contest that can take her to New York, her dreams take flight. But as she her dreams seem within her grasp a family secret threatens to upend the new life she has built for herself.

Shanal Kazi, is a lawyer turned creative who has worked in the corporate and development sector and she loves to write about art.

In this episode of MIXTAPE we talk to Shanal about her ancestral home, Thar. She shares her personal and professional experiences of the area that don’t always make it to the mainstream media but should.

The Merman and the Book of Power brings into the English the classical qissa genre, a fabulist storytelling form common to the oral and written literatures of Urdu, Persian, and Arabic.  

Musharraf Ali Farooqi through this qissa gives life to magical creatures, ill-starred lovers, and the phenomena that might bring the world to its end.