About us
A non-profit organization founded by anthropologists, oral-historians and writers, Anam Zakaria and Haroon Khalid, Qissa is a storytelling platform that documents, archives, and exhibits oral histories of immigrants to Canada. Telling the stories of immigrants in their own voices, Qissa challenges the western gaze through which stories of immigrants are framed. Starting as an artistic collective in 2020, Qissa incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2024.
Anam Zakaria
Anam Zakaria is an oral historian and author of three books and dozens of articles focusing on violence, memory, narrative-making and otherization. She has worked with survivors of war, conflict and genocide and with refugees and newcomers. Anam is the winner of the 2017 KLF-German Peace Prize for her book, The Footprints of Partition (HarperCollins Publishers 2015) and her work has appeared in a range of publications including The New York Times, The Walrus, CBC, Toronto Star, and Al Jazeera.
Anam has an undergraduate degree in International Development from McGill University, holds a Master of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Toronto and is currently pursuing her Master of Education in Counselling Psychology. She has worked in the non-profit sector in senior leadership roles for 15 years and brings over a decade of global experience in delivering talks, curating workshops, and leading cultural dialogues. In 2020, she co-founded Qissa.
Haroon Khalid
Oral Historian and Anthropologist, Haroon Khalid is the author of five books and numerous articles. In his work Haroon explores fluid identities, traditions and religious practices that challenge the notion of exclusivist identities that define communities in South Asia today. His writings have been translated into many languages including Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Bangla, Gujrati and Italian. His book, Walking with Nanak, has been a global bestseller since its publication in 2016.
Haroon is also a marketing and communications specialist with experience of working with several non-profit organizations including Toronto Arts Council & Toronto Arts Foundation, Dancemakers, UNESCO, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and others. He has delivered several lectures, conducted workshops, and provided consultancies. He co-founded Qissa with Anam in 2020.