Readerscafe founders Sasha Scheherzade and Sarah Haris

There are way too many conversations about how we need to read more, but unfortunately, close to no action. Starting the debate around and about books, is Readerscafe, a monthly reading club for book lovers who have itching thoughts that need to be voiced. I sit down with founders Sasha Scheherzade, a digital marketer and Sarah Haris, a social worker, at the bustling Kanteen, as we talk about their venture. They finish each others’ thoughts on writers and its transparent they’ve had long discussions on books that has seasoned a friendship; a pleasure they want to share with the reading community.

What does Readerscafe envision to bring to the reading community?

Sasha: We have a coffee culture but what it lacks is good books; coffee should be paired with books and good friends. Our relationship with books has severed with the boom of digital media and I want the book culture back and with a bang. We came up with this idea and ran it by our friend who owns a popular coffee house and he was all for it. It’s only for the community and we’re not making any money out of it. It’s still a young baby, it will complete one year in December. I understand Karachi has literature festivals and the kitaab mela, but we need more events where authors come and interact with their readers in an intellectual discussion. It’s a very casual environment with literature enthusiasts, writers, authors and media for a happy, healthy discourse and our dream of fostering a healthy reading community came true.

Sarah: We’ve noticed that people want to have a direction-based session, there are a lot of talk sessions happening, but it all ends abruptly. We want to make it solution-based in the future, there is an open field and a conversation has started but now we want to make improvements by finding solutions.

What is the criterion of choosing your speakers?

Sarah: We don’t want it to be limited to famous personalities; we do want them because we want to create an impact but we also want to bring in artists, painters and more. We want to bring in real talent.

Sasha: We want people to bring some substance. There is a serious lack of literary discourse on TV and most programs are focused towards entertainment, and that has no definition or meaning, it leaves you feeling incomplete, you don’t feel like you gained any knowledge out of it. At Readers’ Cafe, we want our attendees to take something away.

At present, what do you think is the status of readership in Pakistan?

Sarah: Locality wise, if I talk from my experience at Liberty Books, the reading culture is better this side of the bridge. I think reading has a lot more to do with priority.

Sasha: Speaking for all the major cities in Pakistan, I have seen these avid readers and I know of these discussion-based WhatsApp groups but there are no sound platforms where they can actually invite an author or person of merit to discuss and absolve all their queries pertaining to the book. There is a culture but not what I would call a ‘healthy reading culture’. I am also connected to amazing and intellectual readers via Good Reads in Peshawar and Quetta and friends based in Islamabad ask us to move Readers’ Café to Islamabad and Lahore even though those are the places that have catered to places like Pak Tea House. Something we are still considering, I want Readers’ Café to travel in Pakistan.

What is the quality of writers coming out of Pakistan?

Sasha: Urdu writers, I think, are coming up with bold content, not all is well but I think it’s a phase of transition. In the last decade, there has been a surge in the use of gadgets, with that the authors thoughts and his writings also became bolder. It influenced their niche. Things that may have been considered taboo say 10 years ago are being discussed and debated within books. I feel the authors of today are much different than the authors of the 80s or 90s. They wrote very beautifully but in a rather clandestine manner. Let’s take Karachi, you’re killing me by Saba Imtiaz. She wrote about the life of a girl juggling a 9 to 5 and she’s everywhere. Imtiaz came up with all these thoughts that a girl perhaps 10 years ago would not have. She’s very outgoing, confident, has a relationship and is free to do as she pleases. When these women pick up the pen, they do wonders. They’re just honest and true to themselves. There are people like Umera Ahmed, there are people like Saba Imtiaz and then there are people like Omar Shahid Hamid and then there are people like Khalil ur Rehman Qamar.

An author you think is timeless?

Sarah: Ashfaq Ahmed I feel is one such author who is timeless but he never got recognition the way he should have. His work was not just literature, it was philosophy and it was a sermon of character building and human development. When his dramas were aired, I feel they didn’t focus on his subject matter. He was not just ahead of his time, he was the Sufi of these times. His wife Bano Khudsia’s writings and thoughts were a reflection of her his work and they complimented each other. They touch a different level of sophistication. Something today’s writers cannot touch, they’re missing substance. Literature doesn’t seem to be refined anymore.

As a reading adequacy club, what are your thoughts on e-reading?

Sarah: We want to revive the feel of paper. We want people to come, sit together, bring their book and engage.

Sasha: There hasn’t been a relationship better than a human and a book. The real essence is in the tangible feel of the book, with e-books, there’s certain coldness.

What amplifies the reading experience? Except for a cup of coffee!

Sarah: An amalgamation of coffee and an intellectual discussion.

Sasha: Environment, views and good friends.