Awais Khan, a rising contemporary author from Pakistan, is a graduate of The University of Western Ontario and Durham University. He also studied creative writing at Faber Academy in London. His published works include In the Company of Strangers (2019) and his recent novel, No Honour (2021). His work has also appeared in The Missing Slate, The Aleph Review, The Hindu, Trip Fiction and The News International among other notable publications. He is the Founding Director of The Writing Institute in Lahore. His latest novel explores the issue of honour killings in Pakistan.

In this conversation with The News on Sunday (TNS), he talks about his experience with the publishing and creative worlds of Pakistan and the UK.

The News on Sunday (TNS): Your latest book, No Honour, has recently been published. Tell us a bit about it.

Awais Khan (AK): No Honour is a completely different creature from my last book. It’s about, as the title probably tells you, honour killings in Pakistan. The story starts in a small village in Pakistan, with a 16-year-old girl, who has gotten pregnant outside of marriage. So, in order to ‘restore’ family honour, [it is decided that] she has to die. It is a dual narrative between her and her father, his emotional turmoil and his refusal to kill his daughter. That’s all I can tell [right now].

TNS: How did your first book get published? Could you talk me through the process of getting a publishing deal?

AK: It’s a lengthy process. The first step after finishing your book is making sure it is in good shape, editing it, and making sure it’s fit for submitting to someone else. The next step is looking for literary agents. You can find them in the UK, US or India, because in Pakistan, we don’t have any literary agents, none at all. Essentially, we don’t have a publishing industry.

Just the other day, someone told me they saw a pirated copy of my book, and they told me that thousands of copies were available in Karachi and people were buying them. Most people in Pakistan buy pirated books, which means that we’re not a major market for any publisher. In order to get noticed, we have to approach agents in the UK, US, or India. And then it’s hard to get the attention of an agent, because the market is so competitive.

Agents are like the gatekeepers of the publishing industry. Most publishers will only look at work coming from an agent. You cannot send them your work independently, as it will not be considered. But there are only so many agents out there, and they’re all applying to the same publishers. A lot of writers still get turned down. I got turned down by all the major big publishers because they just couldn’t see a market for my first book. That’s something you have to bear in mind when you’re booking on submission.

TNS: I want to move on to The Writing Institute. How exactly did that happen? What inspired you to start an academy of creative writing?

AK: The idea for it came when I was taking the Faber Academy Course. It just occurred to me that there is nothing like this in Pakistan, and nobody cares about that. That’s the problem. Nobody in Pakistan cares at all about what goes on in the publishing world. When I returned to Pakistan, I approached a lot of universities and colleges to collaborate on a course. And you would not believe the kind of responses I got. I was literally laughed out of the room. They think because it’s something new or different it’s absolute nonsense. The universities, colleges, and schools in Pakistan are completely about the money. I’m sorry to say that, but it is true. They don’t care about diversity, or adding more interesting subjects to the curriculum. All they care about is the business degrees, the law degrees, the economics degrees, the medical degrees.

This mindset and people disappointed me a lot. But I thought I’d go ahead and do it myself. Starting a new business requires a lot of resources, and initially I didn’t get any profits. But it did get the word out. I finally got my own place in 2018. We had a large campus in Gulberg, and we expanded from creative writing to other sorts of subjects as well. Unfortunately, the pandemic happened [last year] so we had to shut down. But the writing courses still run online. I get in touch with a roster of top literary agents and publishers who come in to give workshops on masterclass. They talk about the process of approaching agents, the process of publishing, the process of editing, all of that.

TNS: You mentioned the Faber Academy Course you took in London, quite a bit. Was that one of the events that was a catalyst for a lot of your creative projects?

AK: Like I said, it was. It helped me with my book, but also showed me, like you said before, the creative vacuum that exists in Pakistan.

TNS: Were there any other moments, places, or institutions that had a similar effect on you?

AK: I think, as far as Pakistan is concerned, no. Pakistani institutions have been nothing but downright disappointing. And they made me feel really bad about myself. They did everything possible to remind me of what a failure I was to even consider something like creative writing. When it comes to inspiration, my time in the UK, with fellow course peers was very fruitful. They were extremely encouraging. Most of my best friends are writers, and have just been a huge inspiration, especially during the pandemic. It really helps to talk to them, and not just about writing, but about any and everything.

TNS: What would you say is the market for In the Company of Strangers and for No Honour?

AK: Very few writers produce English fiction in Pakistan, so I don’t think that we know exactly who our target market is here. It’s kind of like all books are for everyone. It’s basically because the readership is small, you’re trying a scattergun approach, trying to hit everyone. You just kind of throw it at everyone and see who catches. That’s how it is. So, I don’t really know, because we don’t have that many readers to sort of put them in specific boxes.

TNS: I want to go back to the point you made about having most of your friends as writers. Do you think that has an impact on the way that you view the publishing or creative worlds?

AK: Well, apart from my friends, I do keep in touch with publishing news in general, and everything that goes on in the publishing world. I think Twitter is an excellent resource for that as well. But yes, obviously, whatever you see and hear that is going on in the publishing world helps inspire and inform your work, because you look at trends, at what’s working, and what’s not, and all of that stuff. So yeah, they do have an impact.

TNS: Where on Twitter would you recommend that people look for this kind of news?

AK: I think the writing community hashtag is good. There’s a hashtag “Book Twitter”. And then there are a few other hashtags that are really important. But obviously, try following a literary agent, try following other authors, and then you sort of start building a community.

TNS: And do you think building a community is important?

AK: Yes, of course, because writing is such a solitary activity. If you don’t have a community of people who will support and motivate you, then you’re in for a very lonely time. I think a sense of community is very important. Your writer friends will read your work. They will give you their honest feedback that can help you improve your work, which is so important.

I think in this day and age, you can’t possibly think of getting honest feedback from all sources. I think you shouldn’t submit your work to your non-writer friends. Because if they’re not writers, then they just say that this is the best thing ever made, which is of no help to anyone. It’s actually quite damaging. Because you might start thinking that maybe your work is the best. But, when you start submitting it to agents and publishers, and you get all those turndowns, you realise that this was all a lie. There’s no such thing as the best thing in the world.

The writer can be   reached at email:   nawalhaider6@gmail.com