Rotary Club of Islamabad Metropolitan launch Sadaf Raza’s Write Me in Red

Jumbo Editorial Team

Sadaf Raza’s latest poetry collection ‘Write Me in Red’ was launched by the Rotary Club of Islamabad Metropolitan in the federal capital on June 16. It turned out to be a lively interactive session attended largely by the fellow Rotarians. Quite a few dignitaries, former ambassadors and senior civil servants were also present on the occasion. 

The President of Rotary Club of Islamabad Metropolitan, Ambassador Sultan Hayat introduced the poet who is also a human rights activist besides being a Rotarian. ‘Write Me in Red’ is her second book after her maiden venture ‘Like a Sleepwalker’ which was published in 2003. 

She was credited for talking boldly about the issues that people in general were reluctant to talk about openly. 

Harris Khalique, an eminent writer and poet, praised the book observing that it literally flows and keeps the reader interested. 

“The haunting imagery and astounding similes capture the changing season of anguish in a woman’s life but then the tone of personal suffering blends with hues of universal pain on an ever-expanding canvas. The colours of her voice splash across the canvas of our being,” he observed. 

Sadaf Raza reckoned that her book was not only a literary piece but also an effort to reach out to the public on violence against women. 

She also said that its every woman’s right to live a life free of violence, and that womanhood needs to be celebrated. Later, she read and explained a few poems. 

Earlier, Ideas for Life Trust had organised a book signing ceremony with Sadaf Raza, author of ‘Write Me in Red,’ at the London Book Company in which a large number of people turned up to get their books signed by the author. 

Sadaf Raza recited some of her poems from the collection: “I was destined to be written in Red. It is the colour of my rage. It is the colour of my rebellion. It is the colour of my innocence. Red becomes me. It is their denial and my confession.” Also present on the occasion were the emerging music group, ‘Grey Mist’ who composed selected poems from the collection, and performed live.