On Friday,11th September 2015, the Ardeshir Cowasjee Center for Writing (ACCW) invited Asad Rafi, the author of the book steel wheels. The aim of the session was to discuss the process through which Asad went through in writing his autobiography. While there are many talks, and writings, on the taxing process that writers go through for their work, I would argue this one stands out because Asad suffers from Friedreich’s Ataxia, a genetic disease that causes progressive damage to the nervous system, despite which he was not only able to write this book but also publish it through a small publishing house located in DHA, Say Publications. Moreover, the identity of the author here is inseparable from the work not only because it is an autobiography but because the work is about his life.

One of the most important matters that came out of this session was that writing requires a lot more room of one's own. That is why one must never forget the material conditions which allows a person, in this case, Asad, differently-abled as he is, to compose such a work and get it published along with media coverage. Otherwise, a close reading of the text is not at all possible, and when we fail at reading a text at thus we fail at understanding the forces/power that is at work in the production of these texts.

Needless to say, Asad Rafi stands as an inspiration for all those aspiring artists and writers who are struggling and trying to their own path.