PESHAWAR: Senior Pashto poet Akmal Lewanay, who has been bedridden since long, has offered to sell out a treasure trove of books worth thousands of rupees to get his medical treatment.

He said that he was no longer able to afford to pay his doctor fee and buy expensive medicines.

He said that he had a collection of around 6,000 rare Pashto books with him that he was supposed to sell out but his chronic illness stalled his plan.

Akmal Lewanay, 74, a noted Pashto poet, widely known as a mobile bookseller, has been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis for the last many years.

He had undergone surgery in a Islamabad hospital in March last year but could not get well rather it forced him to get bedridden.

Akmal Lewanay has a collection of 6,000 rare books on various topics

He has been promoting book culture through his mobile stalls for the last more than 50 years and quite known for his unique style of expression and his pricking satire and humour.

Recipient of numerous local awards, he has three Pashto poetry collections including Lewantob, Chapawoona and Tortam to his credit.

“I am not making an appeal for monetary aid, instead I am offering the treasure trove of books I have collected from different sources for selling out.

“Though the amount that its sale would fetch me is not going to be good enough to meet all my expenses, yet it will still cover prices of some the medicines that I use daily,” said the ailing poet.

He said that books carrying different price tags from Rs150 per copy to Rs500 but he would sell it out on discount.

He told this scribe that he earlier used to set up stall at the venue of any literary or cultural event for selling out books and would earn a suitable profit to feed his family but old age coupled with illness rendered him completely confined to his bed as he couldn’t walk any longer.

He said he was compelled to make an appeal to culture directorate, Public Archives Library Peshawar, Bacha Khan Markaz, Pashto Academy University of Peshawar, Islamia College University, Bacha Khan University Charasadda, Malakand University, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, the Academy of Letters Islamabad and literary figures to purchase books he had collected on variety of topics.

Hailing from Katlang Shamozai village in Mardan, Akmal Lewaney was born in 1946 with talent of composing poetry.

He attended school up to second grade and learnt reading and writing but couldn’t continue his education as he was supposed to share work in the fields along with his parents.

However, he grew up with senior poets and writers around him and befriended Hamza Baba, Samandar Khan Samandar, Ajmal Khattak, Ghani Khan, Qalandar Momand and many others.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2020