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Saba Karim

@saba.karim.khan

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📚🎬🎓Author | Filmmaker | Educator at NYU Abu Dhabi
🤍 Mother | Booklover | Aspiring Pianist
📩 Management and enquires: @mohsinjafri_

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Woke up to @mina.malik_ sending me a photograph of The News on Sunday. I think a lot of us (not my girls, of course!) will agree that there’s something about seeing a piece in print that a link on your phone just can’t quite replicate.

Qurat Ul Ain Khalil’s thoughtful piece on W.R.A.P. moves from the stark divide between Gizri and DHA to Shoaib losing his father and growing up too soon, and finally to a line from the film: “Qalam mein bohat taqat hai.”

You never quite know which parts of a story will stay with someone, or why. I am so grateful to Qurat, for reading the film this closely. And to the fabulous @wajiha.hyder for cheering on all that I do ✨🩵

Worth a read. Popping the link in my bio.

#documentary #pakistan #hiphop #filmmaking #karachi by @saba.karim.khan

An afternoon with Saba Brelvi, and a copy of her new novel, The Squatters, to come home with. Saba is one of the finest people I know, and her friendship means more to me than I’m likely to manage in an Instagram caption. It’s a particular joy to celebrate this book with her.

I’m setting aside everything I’m currently reading to get straight into this + hopefully sooner rather than later, I’ll have the pleasure of moderating a session with her about it.

Dear Saba, how lovely to hold your book in my hands. by @saba.karim.khan

Out of the house and into The First House. Off to Dubai for an afternoon with Avni Doshi. 📚 am hoping the post event photos are much better than this! by @saba.karim.khan

So, clearly Sunday has been going spectacularly 🤦‍♀️ I’ve ended up with thirty-something questions and an hour with booker shortlisted author, Avni Doshi for tomorrow on her new book, “The First House”. Uff.

If you’re still deciding whether to join us, maybe this will help you make up your mind. I finished The First House wanting to teach it. In an English literature class, a creative writing seminar, anywhere I could get a roomful of people to spend unreasonable amounts of time on a sentence, a character, an image. It would make a cracking book club read, too. Basically, what I’m trying to get at is that finishing it alone feels slightly unfair.

As you can see, my copy is now something of a crazy crime scene and some pages have barely survived. I kind of love it! Haha.

Calling this book “brilliant” or “unputdownable” feels reductive. Neither quite accounts for what happens while you’re reading it, or what you’re left wrestling with afterwards, which I certainly am.

Let me try. There’s such precision to this writing, and so little cushioning. The reader-writer + anthropologist in me went a bit berserk. An image slips into the surreal and gets at something that a faithful account of ordinary life might never reach. The personal and political are so intimately entangled that a marriage, a divorce, a family argument can open onto an entire system of power.

And I love how easily you can move through this book (I didn’t have to read any sentence thrice!), while remaining so unsettled by the people in it. Doshi gives them room to be ambivalent, ungenerous, difficult to defend. She has no apparent interest in securing our approval for them. I kept changing my mind, going back, finding something I’d missed and arrived, therefore, at thirty-something questions.

This is the sort of book that makes you pick up the phone: have you read it? Can we talk about that bit?

Tomorrow, I get to ask the person who wrote it. Very much looking forward to our conversation at Reading Box Dubai. The ride to Dubai will obviously be spent negotiating with my question list.

#booktalk #dubaï #bookstagram #moderation by @saba.karim.khan

🎓 Sussex Anthropology Alumni Spotlight: Meet Saba Karim Khan!

Where can a degree in Anthropology take you? For Sussex alumna Saba Karim Khan, it's led to a career spanning academia, filmmaking and literature.

Now working in the Division of Social Science at NYU Abu Dhabi, Saba continues to draw on her anthropological background to explore people's lives, perspectives and stories.

🎬 Her documentary, We Really Are Pakistan, which explores Pakistan's underground Urdu rap scene, recently won Best Documentary at the Gandhara Independent Film Festival 2026.

📚 She's also published her first children's book, A Recipe for Courage, co-written with her niece, Aleena — a story about food, family and finding your voice.

Reflecting on her time studying anthropology, Saba shares:

“Anthropology taught me the art of listening, not simply to what people say, but to what matters to them, and why.”

From Sussex to NYU Abu Dhabi and beyond, Saba's journey highlights how an anthropological perspective can shape careers, inspire creativity and bring overlooked stories to life.

Swipe to discover more about her journey! 👉

#SussexAnthropology #SussexAlumni #AlumniSpotlight #Anthropology #NYUAbuDhabi #Storytelling #DocumentaryFilm by @saba.karim.khan

A little bravery, two spoonfuls of kindness, and a pinch of standing tall. 💛📚

What goes into A Recipe for Courage? Aleena Khan and Saba Karim Khan’s heartwarming story follows Alia as she navigates a new school, new friendships, and the courage to put herself forward for House Captain.

We’re delighted to see A Recipe for Courage, published featured in Dawn’s Young World last Saturday. ✨

The review reminds us, courage isn’t something you can find on a supermarket shelf.
Sometimes, it’s already within you.

Discover a story that encourages little readers to believe in themselves, stand tall, and let their voices be heard.

Available in stores and online via @libertybooks
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#bookstagram #bookreview #LibertyKids #DawnYoungWorld #ChildrensBooks by @saba.karim.khan

What does courage look like when you're learning to find your own voice?

In this Author Spotlight, Aleena Khan shares her excitement about the release of A Recipe for Courage and reflects on the wonderful experience of writing it alongside her aunt, Saba Karim Khan, during her visit to London. 💜

Through Alia's love for baking, big dreams, and the challenges of growing up, the story reminds young readers that courage isn't about having the loudest voice, but finding the confidence to use their own. 💜

Available in stores and online via @libertybooks
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#bookstagram #kidsbook #courage #childrensbook #youngreaders by @saba.karim.khan

Forty-five minutes to talk about home. No pressure to resolve anything 😉

Come join Naouel Chaoui and me for a conversation about Home #itscomplicated at The Reading Box with Dubai Public Libraries next week. Would love to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones.

20 October · 5–5:45 pm · Dubai by @saba.karim.khan

Pakistan’s stories deserve to be seen and celebrated.

W.R.A.P. (We Really Are Pakistan) has won the Best Documentary Award at the Gandhara Independent Film Festival in Karachi - a moment to celebrate the film and the storytelling behind it.

Congratulations to LUMS alumna Saba Karim Khan (BSc 2006) on this recognition! by @saba.karim.khan

I barely get time for a catch-up that isn’t a voice note anymore and I really want that to change.

But we did briefly stop talking for these 📸 😉

A Saturday social after ages! by @saba.karim.khan

ATTENTION!!!
⭐Little Readerrrs⭐
This one's for YOU!

A RECIPE FOR COURAGE 🍪👩🏻‍🍳

By @treats_by_aleena and
My Favourite @saba.karim.khan 🤍

Illustrated by: Aditi Mehta 🖌

Published by: @libertypublishingofficial 💛

GET YOURS FROM: @libertybooks
(In stores and online) by @saba.karim.khan

FIVE people will WIN these fantastic books. To participate, follow these simple steps:

1. Follow @saba.karim.khan and @awaiskhanauthor
2. Tag 4 people and MAKE SURE they follow both accounts.

FIVE winners will be announced on October 30, 2026. Anyone with a Pakistani postal code can participate.
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#books #childrenbooks by @saba.karim.khan