Meet @atinyreader

Venture’s new collaboration features atinyreader (instagram name). atinyreader is a blogging page owned by, Sharfin Islam, who lives in Dhaka Bangladesh. She is currently a student, studying BBA in marketing. She is also a freelance content writer and photographer. Her love for books is quite evidenced by her instagram page, where you can find brilliantly taken pictures of various amazing books. When we asked what inspired her to start this blogging journey, Sharfin said “A bookstagrammer's, the first from Bangladesh, post appeared on my explore page. As I flicked through her feed, I realized there's a whole community of people who love books. I started my blog the very next day, which was around the 20th of February, 2016!”

Sharfin says, her love for books “stemmed from all the bedtime stories my mother and grandmother told me every night. I'd listen to the same ones again and again, never tiring. Finally, exhausted and impatient, they both ended up buying me some flimsy books containing folktales. We were all happier off.” Apart from reading and photographing, as her hobbies, Sharfin also loves to watch movies and says she is “acquiring new skills that add to my ~aesthetics~”. When asked if she would like to become a writer, Sharfin said “Actually, no. It takes a great deal of talent and patience to create a beautifully fictitious world and characters. I'd rather lay back and enjoy the stories the world has to offer me.”

Sharfin’s current favourite author is Fredrick Backman. She says “A quote of his from his book, A Man Called Ove” has stuck to her. The quote says:

"Never trust people who don't have something in their lives that they love beyond all reason." Sharfin’s says her favourite blogger is @the.millenial.maa, she says, “You'd only have to go through a few of her posts to understand why. Her posts cover such diverse topics and it's so easy to resonate with her views, you can't help but admire how she words all our thoughts so articulately”. Another one of her favourites is @spillthechaa, “whose bold posts are the daily dose of reality checks everyone needs right now.” Lastly, it is @youknow_hue; due to her “insane skills” she also says that @youknow_hue has become a dear friend to her over the last few months.

She deals with stress by trying to fall asleep or by reading and watching a movie. If she is unable to fall asleep Sharfin says she will take a long shower to deal with stressful or overwhelming situations. When asked what Sharfin has learnt from her own achievements or failures she said, “I do have little achievements, but what I've learned from my failures is this; it doesn't matter how talented or productive you are if you don't have discipline.” During the pandemic Sharfin says she’s keeping herself active by helping with household chores, and making “basic, amateurish B-rolls” and video editing. She also said “It's been quite limiting though, given that I'm stuck in my house, and there's only so much new footage I can make.”

When asked about her opinion on the pandemic situation Sharfin says, “The situation is such that it's pointless to have an opinion. I do believe it's been long due, however, at the rate humans have damaged and destroyed this planet for their selfish needs. I think of it as Karma, and we can do nothing but ride it out.”

Sharfin says her motivation to keep the blog running “comes from the thrill of creating something new and having an audience to validate it, to be honest. I'm lucky to be part of a community which is (mostly) open-minded, helpful, and not to mention, extremely talented in its own right.” When asked what the toughest part of blogging is according to her, she said “I think most people would agree with me when I say that the toughest part about blogging is constantly coming up with relevant content that both you and your audience love. Ironically, running a bookstagram also takes a toll on my reading!”

Sharfin’s message to her readers would be:

“Definitely a thank you for finding me even mildly interesting enough to read through this interview!”

Check out her amazing feed on Instagram (@atinyreader)! We were astonished by seeing how insanely pretty each picture is.

Thank you for reading the blog! Stay tuned with VENTURE for more.