‘Story reading won’t die down in digital age’

Islamabad : Celebrating the World Book and Copyright Day, the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) organised ‘Live Authors’ Meet’, an online gathering of authors and writers to discuss challenges and future prospects of the publishing world in the continuously evolving digital age.

Chaired by IPS’ Vice Chairman Ambassador (r) Syed Abrar Hussain — who is also the author of a recent IPS Press publication ‘Afghanistan: Mullah Umar Say Ashraf Ghani Tak’ — the session was participated by book authors and editors such as Syed Irtiqa Ahmed Zaidi, author of Negotiating the Power Corridors: Forty Challenging Years of Civil Service, former Federal Secretary Syed Abu Ahmad Akif and Rehan Ali, authors of Rallying for Rules: Parents Versus Private Schools, Shazia Gilani, Aneela Shehzad, Syed Nadeem Farhat, and Naufil Shahrukh, all of whom shared their thoughts regarding World Book and Copyright Day. The speakers were of the view that since antiquity humans have been fond of storytelling and story reading, which is not going to die down even in the digital age. Rather, they added, digital and online platforms have provided opportunities of self-publishing to new writers.

Highlighting the role of editor in any publication, the participants opined that without putting oneself in an author’s shoes, the editor cannot do justice with the script. They also appreciated people still finding time for reading books as holding books for reading in hands builds association between a book and a reader. They hoped the book reading habit would continue to remain in the future as an online copy of a book cannot be a replacement of a hardcopy. Commenting on his upcoming book ‘Breaking the Breakers’, Akif said the book has been written in a storytelling method to engage the minds of readers who will find it interesting. He also stressed the need for spreading the message of book reading to people around.

Concluding the session, former ambassador Abrar Hussain remarked that holding such a session on World Book and Copyright Day underlines love and affection the participants of the session possess for books. He hoped such endeavours would continue in the future so that book reading habits stay for long. As the theme of the Day this year was ‘Share a Story’, the authors also shared different stories from their published works.