Events | Gurmani Centre for Languages and Literature

New Urdu Fiction – A Sitting with Sameena Nazeer

The Gurmani Centre is beginning a new conversation series on contemporary Pakistani fiction writers, and the session titled “A Discussion on New Urdu Fiction: A Sitting with Sameena Nazeer” marks the first event in this series. In this conversation, we will explore three of her important works, her novel Sīyāh Hīrē (2023) and her two short-story collections, Kallo (2021) and Jazzū Bhaiyā (2025). The session aims to engage with the thematic and narrative dimensions of Nazeer’s fiction and to open a broader conversation on contemporary trends in New Urdu Fiction.

Nazeer’s fiction moves through the shadows and silences that shape ordinary lives, illuminating the inner worlds of characters pushed to the margins of society. Whether it is the unsettling psychological depths of Sīyāh Hīrē or the close-to-life portraits in Kallo and Jazzū Bhaiyā, her writing consistently grapples with power,

vulnerability, and the complex negotiations of identity in contemporary Pakistan. Across these works, she explores human fragility with quiet intensity, addressing themes of trauma, female subjectivity, class hierarchies, and the emotional textures of everyday struggle. Her stories are neither sentimental nor detached; they are grounded, unflinching, and deeply humane, opening a window to the lived realities that often remain unspoken in mainstream Urdu fiction.

The event will also feature dramatic readings of her selected short stories by Sameena Nazeer, offering an opportunity to experience her prose in performance.

Date: Friday, December 5, 2025

Venue: A-11, Academic Block, LUMS

Time: 6:00 – 8:00 PM

Registration: https://forms.gle/vmRcdKf9oRMw9t4d9 register by Thursday, December 4, 2025, by 5:00 PM

Sameena Nazeer is a writer, actor, and theatre practitioner active in Pakistan’s contemporary literary and performing arts landscape. She teaches storytelling, acting, and scriptwriting at NAPA, Karachi Film School, and the Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, and is widely known for her dramatic readings at literary gatherings across the country. She holds a master’s degree in Entomology and is a theatre graduate of the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA).

In 2024, she received the Muzi Lit Award in recognition of her emerging yet impactful contribution to Urdu literature. Her story “Beetle Leaf (پان کا بیڑا)” was included in a special anthology published in Bangladesh on the country’s 70th anniversary, featuring important Partition narratives from across the region. Alongside her fiction, Nazeer has written and directed several theatre plays performed throughout Pakistan and at NAPA, further showcasing her versatility as a storyteller.

Khalid Sanjarani is an Urdu fiction writer, essayist, translator, and researcher. He is currently serving as a Professor of Urdu at Government College University, Lahore. He has also been associated with Heidelberg University, Germany, as a postdoctoral fellow. Additionally, he has served as the Head of the Urdu Department at GCU Lahore. In recognition of his research on Allama Iqbal and Germany, the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Islamabad, awarded him the Best Researcher Award in 2019—the first award of its kind in the Urdu academic world. His areas of interest and research include Urdu fiction, the short story, and Iqbal studies.

We look forward to your participation in what promises to be an engaging discussion.