MIXTAPE Podcast

In this episode of MIXTAPE I talk to our resident sports nerd, Hammad Anwar about cricket – the game, its politics and some interesting book recommendations. Hammad Anwar works in the public sector with a special interest in storytelling through digital communications. He is passionate about telling stories that are changing narratives, and in another life used to write scripts and comic books. &n...

Irtifa is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Forman Christian College University’s School of Management. She is a Fulbright alumna and completed her Masters in Advertising from University of Florida. She has been associated with the marketing communications industry for over 15 years. Recently, she founded a support platform for the maker community called The Tinkers Collective to harness...

Ameena Ahmad has an LLB(Hons) from University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. She is the daughter of Syed Sardar Ahmed on whose life story the biographical fiction book, Walking the Divide – A tale of a journey home is based on. This book is curated by Halima Khan. Khan has a Masters in Communication Studies and English Literature and has always been naturally drawn to the intr...

Aleena Ashraf is a graduate of COMSATS University, Islamabad. She has an undergrad degree in Biosciences. She is quite passionate about storytelling and her preferred genre is fantasy. Through her fiction, she is highlighting some of the most crucial topics we face today including; racism, mental health, bullying, personal struggles to name a few. Soar is her first publication and it is the first...

Uzma Aslam Khan’s latest novel, The Miraculous True History of Nomi Ali, is a classically and lyrically constructed novel telling the story of a forgotten episode from our history. A much-needed work of historical fiction, the novel deals with the Andaman Islands and the prison colony that was established there during the British rule. This part of the pre-partition history of the subcontinent has...

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 rea...

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 epi...

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 a...

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 indust...

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,...

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 Stewa...

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...

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.

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. In this episode of MIXTAPE we talk about all things Urdu Literature with Hammad and how it influ...

For this episode I sat down with Shama Noman for an insightful conversation about the role storytelling plays in the education system. Shama 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...

For the first episode of Mixtape, I invited a group of my friends to discuss how storytelling has impacted their personal and professional lives. They share their experiences and moments that have inspired them as we talk about the various modes in which stories can be told.   Wajiha Haider, a journalist working at The News on Sunday. Hammad Anwar, a digital content creator and founder of Suk...

Mixtape of stories that educate, communicate and entertain.