On Belonging, Reflections of a Renegade Guide
Hello Friends,
I’m excited to announce that my book of personal essays, On Belonging: Reflections of a Renegade Guide is now out and available to buy.
I wrote this book on a return visit to Lahore after almost a decade (and just before London went into lockdown.) Lahore, my motherland, has always held a special place in my heart. It’s a beautiful, wondrous city - a city that has always stirred so much within me. In many ways, it felt like the perfect time and place to reflect and write.
In my book I share my strange and unlikely journey towards starting up Living London and becoming a guide. This book is about finding home in unlikely spaces, and belonging with curious outliers. It’s about community and connection, equally it’s about separation and taking the road less travelled. More than anything, it’s about seeking relief and freedom through everyday exploration – and opening up this path to others.
Living London has always been an ode to a city forever in flux, and in parts fading. A city filled with quirky gems, magical people, unreal stories and inspirational projects. I wanted to capture these and share them before they’re lost forever. This isn’t the book I set out to write almost six years ago, but it’s a book that I needed to write. I hope you’ll buy it, enjoy and share it!
“Aside from her infectious curiosity for lesser known corners of London, Saira writes elegantly and wisely on faith, family and multicultural identity. Wonderful”
“I hugely endorse this book! I find the world of tour guiding fascinating! Saira has a unique and beguiling take on the subject (and much more besides).”
“Inspirational stories that will drive you into the waiting and welcoming arms of nature”
Cover Design: Lisa rAHman illustration: Aleesha Nandhra
Returning to Lahore after almost a decade, wandering guide and community worker Saira Niazi reflects on what it means to belong on both a personal and a universal level.
In a series of personal essays on topics including exploration, love, faith, transience, mental health and being a woman of colour, Niazi shares her strange and unlikely journey towards becoming a wandering guide.
She draws upon the stories, experiences, and insights of the extraordinary people she has met along the way, from monks and mudlarks to storytellers and scientists, and celebrates the many different kinds of beautiful lives that exist.
The Story behind the Book
Six years ago I began working on a book called Living London. My intentions for writing the book were two-fold; to share the stories of the incredible places, communities and individuals that make London such a unique and beautiful city and to inspire others to find freedom and relief in everyday exploration. Many years, a thousand hidden spaces and 160,000 words later, I abandoned the project. Instead, I put on a photography exhibition in a former fishmonger of some photos I’d taken on my wanderings, before deciding to run away to Korea. I came back months later jobless, stressed and with no clue on what to do with my life. So I decided (quite randomly) to become a tour guide (among other equally random things).
One day, I decided to write a personal essay on what being a guide meant to me. It marked the beginnings of my book On Belonging, Reflections of a Renegade Guide. I never set out to write this book. It has been both a difficult and very easy undertaking. Although I largely wrote it over a short period of time in Lahore, it took a decade to gather the insights, stories and experiences it holds.
“This book delivered a piece of magic during lockdown, and I feel more enlightened from reading it.”
“A beautifully written book of essays about exploration, belonging, loss, family and many other themes. The book is full of interesting encounters with so many fascinating real people the author has had while guiding in London and around - it reminds you of the richness of life (and the city). The writing is contemplative and introspective, while being engaging throughout. I found it a nourishing and restoring read during the current turbulent times and I really connected with Saira's love of walking and exploring, having rediscovered this simple pleasure during the pandemic. I feel it's one of the those books I will want to return to again and again.” - Dominika
“This book is very beautiful and highly recommended”
"On Belonging" is about how to balance inner and outer worlds, how to listen to yourself and to others, and the ways people and place interlink. It's about faith and gender, solitude and connectedness, travel and stillness. Each essay offers a perspective on Niazi's work as a London tour guide, seeking ways to connect with communities and offer people the opportunity not just to see London, but to connect with others and explore ideas together.
A great read that shows London and Lahore in a bright, illuminating light. An ode to cities and to the glorious people who call it home. - Gemma Seltzer, Author and Founder of Write and Shine
“An engaging, thought-provoking book that explores little-known sides of London, as well as issues such as love, faith and mental health. Well worth picking a copy.”
“If you are able to get through the whole book without venturing into the woods, city streets or wild spaces on your doorstep you have more will power than me!”
“On Belonging is definitely worth a read. It is a book that will both surprise and educate. ”
RENEGADE GUIDES: THE PLACES WE GO, THE STORIES WE SHARE
How can tours enable us to notice and appreciate our built environment and more fully inhabit the spaces we live in and places we traverse?
“I’ve often asked myself, what is a tour guide, really? Your work helps answer that. It redefines guiding as a platform for social change and storytelling rooted in respect for place and people. This guide shows that a tour guide is multi-dimensional—and it’s a resource we need.” - Larry Henderson, Soul of Harlem
“This guide is a great resource for people who are struggling and looking for ways to help their community.” - Alexandra Maruri, Bronx Historical Tours
“What an incredible resource!” - Barnali Ghosh, Berkeley South Asian Radical History Walking Tour
“Everyone interested in creative walking, walking art, place making/guarding/celebrating should check out (Saira’s new book).” - Clare Qualmann, Artist, Lecturer and Researcher
“I cannot recommend Saira Niazi’s new book Renegade Guides highly enough to anyone who leads tours. It’s both thought-provoking and inspirational.” - Nigel Smith, London Tour Guide
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Towards the end of 2024, during a highly contentious election season, writer, guide and founder of Living London, Saira Niazi, spent two months in the US (New York and San Francisco) developing a research project on tour guiding.
Attending various walking tours and community events, exploring hidden gems and local neighbourhoods and interviewing renegade guides, organisers and storytellers from all walks of life, Niazi sought answers to the pressing questions that prompted her journey. What makes a tour? Who decides which stories get shared? How can we better support our communities?
The Renegade Guides handbook – a new resource, created with and for guides, is filled with practical advice, reflections, case studies, stories, ideas and a manifesto.
Buy a physical copy of the Renegade Guides handbook below. If you would like a large font, accessible version of the handbook, please get in touch. Alternatively click here to download a FREE digital version!
About the Author
Saira Niazi has been writing about places for over fifteen years. She has a master’s degree in creative writing from Goldsmiths College. In 2023, Niazi was shortlisted for the prestigious Art Foundation Futures Award for Place Writing. In 2020, she self-published a book of personal essays, “On Belonging: Reflections of a Renegade Guide”. Shortly after, she was invited join Southside House for nine months as a writer-in-residence and assistant curator. Her writing has been published in various journals, including Huck, Ace Reader and the New Statesman. Niazi was the recipient of a Shifting the Gaze bursary from Writing Our Legacy and the South Downs National Park for which she wrote a series of short stories exploring diverse characters’ connection to site specific places in the chalk downs like the Chattri, the Seven Sisters and the dew ponds at Ditchling.
As part of her role as Community Stories Lead at Slow Ways, she wrote about her long-distance walks and the uncanny discoveries and encounters she experienced as she traversed areas across England, Scotland and Wales. In recent months, she completed a creative non-fiction project entitled “Renegade Guides: The Places We Go, The Stories We Share” as part of a research project on guiding, community allyship and best practice. She also completed her first national writing commission as part of Beach of Dreams, a UK-wide coastal arts festival. Her long-form essay delved into the world of oysters, seagrass and kelp. She has run various writing, and creative workshops over the years.