alec: good day Pakistan, today is November 28, 2022, and the current time is ---.

i am your host,
alecxa Bundang

aivan: i am aivan untalan

kyla: and i am kyla langit

alec: Here we are once more to enlighten you with this explosive revelation live on a Pakistani
reality talk program.

kyla: but before, allow us to introduce our guest for this day.

alec: He is a Pakistani author, writer, and translator who presently splits his time between
Toronto and Karachi. He was born in Hyderabad, Pakistan.

aivan: His acclaimed new novel, Between Clay and Dust, was shortlisted for The Man Asian
Literary Prize 2012 and longlisted for the 2013 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. His most
recent children's fiction is the novel Tik-Tik, The Master of Time, Pakistan's first English-
language novel for children

kyla: His other children's fiction includes the picture book The Cobbler's Holiday Or Why Ants
Don't Wear Shoes and the collection The Amazing Moustaches of Mocchhander the Iron Man
and Other Stories, shortlisted for the India ComicCon award in the Best Publication for Children
category.

alec: Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Musharraf Ali Farooqi!!

(papasok si aleksej)

aleksej: It's a delight and a great pleasure to be here, Kyla, Alec, and Aivan, I appreciate your
invitation to be your guest here.

kyla: We are glad to welcome you here and conduct an interview. can you tell us a little more
about yourself?

aleksej: I'm a writer of novels, an author, a translator, and a storyteller, as Alec stated earlier.

aivan: wow, since when did you start writing and publishing your stories?

aleksej: In addition to my job as a journalist in Karachi, I co-founded a tiny literary publication

called Cipher with several of my friends. I began composing stories in English at this time.
aivan: It's quite wonderful how you got started writing. What honors and accolades have you
received for your books and novels?

aleksej: i was a finalist in 2012’s Man Asian Literary Prize, for the novel Between Clay and Dust
and Fellow, Harvard South Asia Institute, Spring 2017 and a lot more

aivan: with that, which of your books do you believe readers admired and found enjoyable?

aleksej: already know the answer to that, definitely The Story of A Widow

alec: can you tell us what is that story all about?

aleksej: basically, A Widow's Story illuminates one woman's struggle to comprehend a life

without the partnership that had sustained and defined her for nearly half a century. As never
before, Joyce Carol Oates shares the derangement of denial, the anguish of loss, the
disorientation of the survivor amid a nightmare of "death-duties," and the solace of friendship.
She writes unflinchingly of the experience of grief—the almost unbearable suspense of the
hospital vigil, the treacherous "pools" of memory that surround us, the vocabulary of illness, the
absurdities of commercialized forms of mourning. Here is a frank acknowledgment of the
widow's desperation—only gradually yielding to the recognition that "this is my life now."
Enlivened by the piercing vision, acute perception, and mordant humor that are the hallmarks of
the work of Joyce Carol Oates, this moving tale of life and death, love and grief, offers a candid,
never-before-glimpsed view of the acclaimed author and fiercely private woman.

kyla: that is such an amazing story just by listening to that kind of summary, will definitely
purchase that book of yours.

alec: Once more, I want to express my gratitude to Mr. Musharraf Ali Farooqi for granting us an
interview. We are very happy and grateful to have you on our talk program and to conduct an
interview with you.

aleksej: thank you for having me, Kyla, Alec, and Aivan. it’s an honor.

alec: that’s a wrap! We appreciate your time today. Please check back with us tomorrow to learn
about the newest issues surrounding you. again, I am Alec Bundang

kyla: I am Kyla Mae Langit

aivan: and I am Aivan Untalan

all: your favorite hosts.

alec: this is your favorite talk show, see you again tomorrow!