z.u.

A few years ago, I wrote up a short story about a boy & a girl and an ice cream shop, and it came to be the first short story I would finish. And I'm finally ready to introduce them to you, keep reading to get a glimpse into a summery meet cute!

The caramel, toasted scent of freshly pressed waffles wafted through the quaint ice cream shop, swimming through the air with the strums of Grease’s Summer Love, coaxing a hum out of the ice cream boy. He glided from station to station whispering the verses and tapping the lilac counter to its beat, fingers faltering with the tinkle of the bell as Farah ventured into ‘chillin’. “Good evening,…

Sketchbook rendition of said ‘rooster’ I started wearing glasses at 7 years old. I had failed at tricking my primary school nurse into believing that the obscure contortions of my nose and eyebrows were signs of a prodigal mind, not a simple case of nearsightedness. Two week later, I stood next to my then-best friend, with identical sky blue glasses, waiting for our school bus to pick us…

what the inside of my head looks like 🎨 art journal flip-through #3 🎨

My art journals are visual maps of the inside of my head. I started this particular journal right as I was moving out to uni, and the first half is a conflicting amalgamation of new experiences and homesickness. The second half was done locked down in my dorms just as the pandemic started. I doubt the latter context is going to be credible in the pages itself, but I am ever scrambling to…

Mid Year Book Freakout Tag 2021

I just posted a recap of the reading I have been doing over the first half of 2021; including favourites, disappointments and even books that made me cry. Check it out here: What are some of your favourite books of the year so far? Let me know in the comments below. Follow me on my socials for more frequent reading updates

I made an art zine called 'farty art' about the struggles of being a creative in the pandemic! Here's a blogpost with a free printout of the zine to make it for yourself at home!

Urban Dictionary’s definition of a ‘zine’: some sort of publication […] on any range of topics, […] filled with passion. A means of telling one’s story, sharing thoughts, and/or artwork/comics/doodles. How do I get rid of this creative gastric, courtesy of the pandemic, without driving myself crazy? I make a zine. This zine was born on a sleepless night, so forgive the ink splotches and the…

“The Shape of Thunder” By Jasmine Warga (review)

5/5 stars Expected Publication date: May 11th 2021 This is a very important book. And I say that for a variety of reasons. Primarily, Jasmine Warga tackles a topic that adults squirm ceaselessly about: school shootings. Her choice of using the middle-grade perspective is genius in highlighting the stark reality that children face today. What better way to navigate the topic, than employ the…

Books that made me want to create.

When asked to describe me in one word, most people would choose ‘creative’. That has both been a curse and a blessing. For one, it’s a compliment of the highest regard, when you are in fact a creative. But on second thought, it’s pressure. Pressure to consistently be creative. Although, creativity might arrive and depart when it pleases, come in explosive bouts and slow trickles, books have…

“moor monsters” (a plea)

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKf1ZEala2N/ Yesterday evening, the sounds of “My mother-land Sri Lanka” floated through our house, crackling through the speakers of the local Muslim channel on the radio. And it woke me up from a lot of idle fear. There’s a lot of hurt, anger and grief that’s been sitting somewhere inside me, this past year or so. It’s one that most of the Sri Lankan Muslim…

Top 20 Books of 2020.

 I had a splendid year in 2020. Let me rephrase that. A splendid reading year. If nothing else went right, my reading did and I ended up reading 120 books! So, when I finally sat down to make this list, I spent a week pulling my hair out, trying to narrow down my favourites to just 10. Clearly, that didn’t work out… if you feel that reading about 20 books is simply too much, you can click here…

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2020.

It’s been an insane year of reading (I read a total of 120 books) and it has been a delight to have the POPSUGAR reading challenge help diversify my selections. I truly enjoy doing the challenge every year and I thought I would share my results for this year: I was able to complete 43/50 of the challenges! My annotated copies of the challenge! (You’ll notice some of them don’t match the books on…

my first day of uni (online).

I would never have thought I’d be starting my undergraduate career online, but alas, here we are! Nevertheless, I have chosen to look on the positive side (most of the time…): I get to have the comfort of my study space at home and homecooked food. Experience this relaxed first day with me in this video! Books featured in this video: “How To Win Friends and Influence People” By Dale…

One-sentence reviews of every book I read this November. (kind-of)

Clicking on the cover of the book will take you to it’s Goodreads page, where you can find a more comprehensive summary, reviews, as well as ways to get your own copy

4/5 freaky stars

Watch Igor get so terrified of his own creation that he spends a whole book depressed he created one, and consequently spend the rest of the month driving yourself insane by wondering at the dilution of…

I used to sleep.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CH7qKlOFbN3/

I used to sleep.

When my brain knew how to shut up

And my body knew how to unwind.

Slip my conscious off

And stop time.

Swim in serene silence

For split seconds

Where my thoughts weren’t screaming at me

To sew salty tears and sun-dried ideas

Into symphonies of success.

To live and live and live and live.

To find…

17-year-old zafra’s art journal.

Which page was your favourite? Let me know in the comments below.

This particular journal is a scrap journal I bound myself, keep an eye out for the process video coming out soon!

For further insight into my process and some…

recommending cozy winter reads while i crochet.

Welcome to this chaotic video, where I hug a number of books, come to some mind-blowing conclusions about the relationship between ‘cozy‘ and ‘thicc‘ books and try to crochet while I do all of the above.

If you’ve made it through,…

16-year-old zafra’s art journal.

This has been a highly-requested video – for a very long time and I finally did it. There are two more art journal flip-throughs coming soon (InshAllah), so stay tuned!

For further insight into my process and some tips and…