“Anthologies, in the broadest sense of collections of independent texts, have always played an important role in preserving and spreading the written word.” Ben Grant.
I had been looking forward to Homespaces, an anthology of prose and poetry from the Department of English at the University of Karachi. It was a relief to dip into such a varied collection of genres and contributions from the university’s alumni. The book brings together essays, fiction and non-fiction, short stories and poems. What stands out is the diversity of themes and styles. It is likely to have something for every reader that resonates with them.
When I posted a picture of the book online, many asked what the title - Homespaces - meant. This prompted me to revisit Eyesha Elahi’s essay Pakistani Homeplaces. Elahi challenges the assumption that the work of housewives amounts to nothing. Instead, she writes: “Housewives take their lot and shape from it - a homeplace – by making their home, the inside walls a space of safety, love and comfort.”
That is when the title clicked for me. This anthology becomes a kind of homeplace in itself, a space carved out for women, marginalised voices and overlooked individuals to record their truths and make them heard.
In her introduction to Homespaces, Muneeza Shamsie highlights the evolution of Anglophone writing in Pakistan. She notes that the anthology “provides an interesting insight into literary history, revealing the extent to which gender issues have changed and add to the significance and importance of the written word and a literary voice.”
The collection has been compiled and edited by Nishat Wasim and Huma Shakir, both from the Department of English at the University of Karachi.
Finding Ahtohallan by Qurat-ul Ain Raza Abbas opens the anthology with a meditation on the legend of a river “full of memories.” Drawn from a series of personal journal entries, the essay weaves together themes of nostalgia, claustrophobia, womanhood and the idiosyncrasies that resonate deeply with many South Asians.
Equally striking are the excerpts from Homage to Hunza, which immediately caught my attention, not least because of the title. The writer’s depiction of Hunza valley as a surreal, almost otherworldly place is compelling. More than anything, writing rooted in place helps ground the narrative, while also preserving knowledge of a country’s culture, people and landscape.
Year of Graduation: 1994 presents an interplay of the personal and political, reflecting on life in Karachi. The essay recalls four bullets narrowly dodged by the writer. This short memoir captures the instability, chaos and lack of security that many citizens endured. Yet it avoids closing on a note of despair. Instead, it seeks to instill purpose, suggesting that life is best lived when dedicated to a great cause.
This anthology becomes a kind of home-place in itself, a space carved out for women, marginalised voices and overlooked individuals to record their truths and make them heard.
Studying Literature: An Essential for a Better World reiterates the value of reading as a means of cultivating empathy and humanity. “We were flawed humans, made greater because of those flaws, and because we shared those complex emotions in empathy, in our shared humanity.” The reminder feels urgent in a context where many notable literary figures in Pakistan still dismiss literature as the pursuit of the “not so bright.” The essay makes a persuasive case for rekindling literature’s transformative power to nurture kinder, more humane people.
Equally resonant is Nishat Wasim’s Reflection, which leaves the reader with an overwhelming sense of gratitude, revisiting Emerson’s Self-Reliance in a way that feels both personal and timeless.
Shazaf Fatima Haider’s Saathi critiques the brutality embedded in all forms of division. It reminds us that living with a clear conscience requires nurturing coexistence. The essay traces one of the British Empire’s most effective strategies, divide and rule, and shows how, though the colonisers have long departed, their legacy of hatred and fracture lingers.
Zunaira Nadeem’s House Plant offers an eerie portrait of a woman navigating irrevocable loss. Gothic in tone, laced with suspense, the story’s unexpected ending leaves the reader unsettled.
The Disillusion dwells on the harsh realities of urban life and the compromises of growing up. Other entries in the anthology bring their own pleasures and insights to the collection.
The final section of the anthology is devoted to poetry. Of the 35 contributors, 32 are women, a striking choice in a patriarchal society, lending the collection both courage and conviction. The few male voices included, Dr Faisal Nazir, Maaz Masood and M Yousha, enrich the volume with a wide thematic and stylistic range.
“But new leaves will sprout if there is sap in the veins…” one poem declares, encapsulating the sense of resilience that threads through much of the work.
“Stay strong, for soon there shall be spring and rain.”
– Dr Faisal Nazir
Poetry, by nature, is personal and inward-looking. Many of the poems in Homespaces resonated deeply with me, as they are likely to with any reader. What is striking is how often they turn to intertextuality, lending the work a timeless, borderless quality.
Poetry often begins in a quiet space of reflection, where emotion, memory and language meet. It distils experience, making the abstract tangible through rhythm and form. In a world of constant distraction, these poems create a kind of home-place, a space to pause, to attend to the subtle unfolding of thought and feeling.
Consider an excerpt from Dreams:
“Why revel in an illusion/ A pristine woodland set to fire/ At the end of sleep”
– Mahek Khwaja
Homespaces brings together voices with enduring relevance for Pakistan’s contemporary literary culture. By juxtaposing the lyrical intensity of poetry with the narrative depth of short stories and essays, it creates a vital space for dialogue. Much of the writing is accessible. Some of the pieces invite comparative reading. Collectively, the narratives are more than recollections of disparate texts; they shape experiences that give readers a kaleidoscopic view of human expression.
Homespaces
A Prose and Poetry Anthology
Editors: Nishat Waseem and Huma Shakir
Pages: 323
Price: Rs 1,800
The reviewer is a lecturer at the Department of English Language and Literature, Kinnaird College for Women.