The Order of Pen (TOOP) is an organization that not only celebrates art and literature but works for their revival around the globe. As a platform, it acknowledges and represents both amateurs and veteran artists on a global level. Muhammad Noman Saleem, a literature and art enthusiast, is the founder and CEO of The Order of Pen, who not only writes poetry but teaches as well. Jhanvi Sabharwal from India, an ardent lover of art world is the co-founder of the organization. In the recent episode of Gup Shup podcast, the founder, Noman Saleem elucidated his journey of becoming a writer and creating a literary platform, The Order of Pen, for people like him. Let’s read about some of the remarkable stories from the podcast’s first episode.
Muhammad Noman Saleem got his early education from Army Public School. From his early childhood, he was an avid reader of novels and poetry books. He wrote his first poem when he was in grade 6th. Being an introvert and uncertain of the world’s reaction, he never read his poetry in public. Reluctant to show it to the world, he kept on writing articles and poems for himself. He started publishing his poetry once he started studying literature.
Reflecting back on his experience, Noman Saleem, in the Gup Shup podcast, shared that during university times, once his teacher told him that we can never write like Shakespeare. Deeply stricken by the teacher’s remarks, he thought of making a writers’ society. A society where writers and readers could share their writings and opinions and inspire each other to become like Shakespeare. At first, it was a group of classmates that gradually expanded, encompassing a variety of people from around the globe. However, that expansion was not achieved easily. It was a long journey of making the impossible possible. From publishing Facebook pages to getting unpublished, it was a long night of hardships.
With the idea to merge art and literature, initially, a Facebook page was made with the name of Club for Literary People. However, unexpectedly, as soon as it crossed one million milestone in its reach, the page got unpublished. It was the most heart-wrenching news for the whole team after putting so much efforts. ‘’I remember’’ Noman Saleem said, ‘‘I was so distressed when my co-founder, Jhanvi Sabharwal, informed me that the page got unpublished, and even my sister, who was the admin, informed me about it. I can’t explain how painful that experience was but our passion was so great that it compelled us to create a new page’’. Unfortunately, that revised page was unpublished as well because the name and logo was blacklisted by Facebook. To hype up the team morale, he received a long email from a South African member named Jadeja, who is also a founding group member. Motivated with high spirits, the existing page title was renamed with The Order of Pen. Sadly, the re-named page was removed for the third time after achieving one million reach, and for the fourth time, it got unpublished because the page could no more be used with the existing name and logo. Lastly, a Facebook group was created with the name of The Order of Pen. The group became familiar so fast that it was selected from India among the 18 countries by the Facebook Community Accelerator Program 2022. After which, people used to visit and interview the team for their success achieved in such a short span of time. Thankful of the opportunity, TOOP team utilized it and never looked back and kept growing.
Talking about the cause of the organization, Noman Saleem said that The Order of Pen is selflessly contributing for the betterment of society with no desire of material gains in return. To accomplish the cause, people need to come forward and contribute voluntarily. Besides, the people who are already working in this organization are working because of their passion rather than money. From content writers to IT experts, everyone works voluntarily in this organization. Fortunately, from the last two years, the number of volunteers has increased significantly.
The organization is open to accept writers of any language, however, in the beginning it was limited to English; that’s why majority of the works we receive are in English language. For most part, TOOP community works online and most events are conducted online. Nevertheless, in May 2023, two physical chapters were established. One chapter is in Peshawar with the name of ‘Toopistan’ and the other in India with the name, Toopindia. TOOP India is managed by co-founder Jhanvi Sabharwal whereas Toopistan is managed by Noman Saleem. Up till TOOP has organized many events to showcase works of literature and art, not only on a national level but also on global level. For instance, the TOOP arranged Poetic Rhapsody, a poetry slam contest. From the whole of Peshawar, predominantly English poets participated in the event. Another event was Open Mic Night, which introduced the remarkable talent of Peshawar. The most recent organized event was Art and Books Exhibition. Many artists and book sellers showed their visual and written artworks. As such kind of events are rare in Pakistan, especially in Peshawar; therefore orchestrating such events makes the TOOP remarkable.
With the hope to expand The Order of Pen’s reach to every corner of the world, Noman Saleem requests participation and contribution of all literature and art enthusiasts.
Leave a Reply