This article first appeared in The Herald, March 2006.
It’s a proud day for Pakistan when Karachi’s glitterati and internationally renowned celebrities gather for the launch of a children’s bok. In a nation where reading is becoming an endangered habit, the hype surrounding Mo’s Star, a fable about a penguin who befriends a star, is encouraging. Authored by Mahnaz Malik, a London-based international investmen lawyer, Mo’s Star began as a joke but soon morphed into a mission. Thanks to Mahnaz’s relentless, persuasive and enthusiastic personality, Mo’s Star quickly became an international project – written by a Pakistani, illustrated by American art professor Cora Lyn Deibler, translated into Urdu by activist poet Fahmida Riaz, and complemented by an audio version directed by Oscar-nominated director Michael Radford and preformed by Joseph Fiennes.
In Pakistan, Mo’s Star has achieved the impossible by dissolving corporate boundaries. Under the umbrelly of Project Reaching for the Stars, the book will be published by the Oxford University Press which, thanks to the support of Unileverm will donate all sale proceeds to The Citizens Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that has built 230 primary and secondary schools nationwide. Much like her penguinprotaganist, Mahnaz dreamed the impossible, pitching big ideas for her little book. Indeed, her prose and philanthropic vision so inspired the likes of Bollywood star Vidya Balan and Radford that they flew into Karachi to support the initiative. Over to them.
