
ProperGaanda discovered a Pakistani author, Zarnaab Adil Janjua, an NYU graduate in Political Sciences, who released his debut novel, “The White Lie,” a political dystopian thriller set in 2036, on November 27, 2021. Zarnaab told us about the process that led him to create this work in an interview: “Writing a book was a pipe dream of mine. I’ve always enjoyed writing, and my friends and family have always encouraged me.” Since 2015, the writer has also been working as a journalist and rap artist. The brainstorming: Zarnaab shared that he had already written a chapter which he further added to when the pandemic took over, “I was in Pakistan and I wanted to keep writing something, an anthology, and something less offensive, so I chose to go with satire. I started writing with no idea because I was told prior to this that getting your work published is difficult. So I picked dystopian fiction and wrote a novel which tells the tale of Praetorius, the fictitious version of Pakistan, and how the country’s foreign minister, Shahzain Magsi, and his right-hand man, Hasan Murtuza, try to organise an OIC Summit in Halore,” the novelist explained the entire idea behind the 115-page long tale. The novel: Zarnaab summarized and walked us through the plot for his novel, “The book is based in 2036 and set in the fictitious republic of Praetorius, and follows the lives of the foreign minister of the country, Shahzain Magsi, and his right-hand, Hasan Murtuza, and they want to organise a summit for the Islamic countries, OIC 2036. They travel across many countries to get people on board for the summit and face a lot of challenges with army men, bureaucrats, and journalists. One of them falls in love with a foreign woman too,” he explained in the gist of the story. Why dystopian thriller?

It’s dystopian in a sense that it shows what the future might be like. I didn’t pick a dystopian thriller to depict a sad, gloomy world that awaits us. It is grounded in something far from reality, but it’s still a plot that people might be able to relate to. The book is basically referred to as “satirical.” Biggest support:

“My biggest support was this gentleman, Awais Khan. He is an author himself and has published two books. I was able to connect with him through a family friend. From connecting me with an agent to guiding me on how to pitch the proposal to the publisher, he helped me at every step of the way. He was also there at my book launch for support. Future plans: We asked Zarnaab if he was planning on writing another novel. “Yes, I am currently working on something. It’s more of a coming of age storey and it circles around mental health issues. I’ve always felt that it’s still seen as a taboo topic in Pakistan. “The White Lie also talks a little about mental health, but it’s quite a brief novel as people don’t like reading long books.” Zarnaab’s second novel is based on the life of a kid who faces domestic issues and how they’re a prominent aspect of his lack of upbringing. He eventually goes off to college and faces obstacles in his relationships. The child has a hard time adjusting to different locations, and the upcoming novel is a tale that revolves around his life.