Meet Awais Khan | Award-winning Author & Educator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Awais Khan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Awais, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I took some very high-profile writing courses in London which were very useful for my writing career, but also very expensive. It was after I returned to Lahore that I realized nothing like this was available for aspiring writers here. The Pakistani rupee had consistently been falling in value, which made taking foreign courses even more expensive. That was when I decided to launch The Writing Institute – a place where aspiring writers could come together to study creative writing at affordable rates. Just to give you an idea, a 5-week writing course abroad could easily cost between $500-1000, but at the Writing Institute, it costs $35-50. The reason I even charge this small fee is because it is important that people value this service. When you provide a service for free, people start thinking it has no value. Anyway, this is how The Writing Institute came into being, and to date, over 10,000 people have taken courses with us.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
In addition to being an educator and many other things, I am also an author. I have had four novels out in the world so far, all of them published in the United Kingdom (among other territories) to immense critical acclaim. Out of the four, NO HONOUR is the most popular, and pretty much the book I am most known for. However, my other three novels, IN THE COMPANY OF STRANGERS, SOMEONE LIKE HER and IN THE SHADOWS OF LOVE have also done well. What sets me apart, I guess, is that I write fiction with a social issue at its heart.

To get to this point was not easy. In fact, for a Pakistani author, you can safely multiply the hardships by a hundred (or thousand). Call it a wicked twist of fate, but the South Asian diaspora largely ignores works my South Asian authors which makes recognition difficult. There are many people who DO support us, but we need many many more in order to make a difference. Most of my readers are people who are not South Asian at all. At the end of the day, publishing is a business, and it is important to make money and generate a profit. The only way to get noticed in this cutthroat industry is by pushing hard to secure a literary agent, writing as much as you can, and building yourself book by book. The lesson I have learned is that being an author is not a sure shot ticket to earning millions. Yes, the millions do happen for some, but for most, it is a hard road to get there. Everything is done piece by piece.

I would like the world to know me as a writer who never gave up despite the tremendous obstacles in his way. Social media often presents a very glamorous image of authors, but the reality is very different. A lot of blood, sweat and tears go into being a part of this industry, and that’s what the people don’t see.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Lahore is probably one of the best places to visit. It is the cultural capital of Pakistan with lots of history, both from the Mughal and colonial era. If someone was visiting for a week, I would first take them to see the older parts of the city (also called the walled city): the Badshahi Mosque, the Shalimar Gardens, Royal Fort, Royal Trail and Heeramandi (the former historic red light district of Lahore, famous for its educated and enlightened courtesans).

Lahore is a sprawling metropolis of fifteen million people, so there is always lots to do. There are thousands of restaurants dotted across the city, from small tea stalls to glittering fine dining places, and the trick is to experience everything. Lahore is very well-known for traditional Pakistani food, to the point that there are ‘food streets’ in the older parts of town.

In addition to that, there is a thriving coffee culture in the city as well as plenty of places to shop. All in all, anyone who visits will certainly not be disappointed or bored.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I think literary agents work tirelessly behind the scenes, mostly to get an author books deals, but also to push their name and brand, secure speaking engagements, festival appearances, film and TV deals and so much more. The agent is the face of the author when business is conducted, so I would definitely like to give a shoutout to my literary agent, Annette Crossland, who has been with me since 2017!

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Image Credits
1. Saad Sarfraz Sheikh
2. Waqar Ahmed Butt