By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)
Azra Qureshi, one of the seasoned medical librarians of the country, has debuted as author with the publication of her maiden travelogue by the name of Barah-e-Safar under the auspices of the Karachi-based Library Promotion Bureau (LPB).
Author Azra Qureshi has dedicated the 176-page book to Prof Dr Nasim Fatima, besides her parents. The continued encouragement and guidance from Prof Dr Nasim Fatima played the pivotal role in the completion of the book, she acknowledged.
Prof Dr Nasim Fatima, the first women chairperson of the Library & Information Science department at any university of Pakistan, is also credited to have mentored and introduced many library professionals as authors with Azra Qureshi being the latest addition to the list.
The widely travelled Azra Qureshi, having pursued a long career as a working librarian, had first thought about authoring a book in 2013 upon her return from Australia when she was assigned to pen the experiences of her tour for Bazm-e-Akrams annual publication Adab-o-Kutub Khana.
Having contributed to various journals and annuals besides participating in conferences and conventions over the years, she finally started putting together her travel stories of 17 or 18 countries which she was able to visit during her career and it took her almost a year to bring out her maiden book finally.
An active member of Lions Club International, she also has attended its convention in the United States besides having undertaken trips of Australia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, India, Maldives and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) among other countries.
One of the features of the book, priced PKR 250 per copy, is the publication of eight pages of colour photographs many of which were clicked abroad. The production of the book, however, has not matched the high quality of contents inside the covers.