Lahore Litfest - a metaphor for free speech
Pakistan
Luminaries from around the globe will participate in the festival's 10th edition
By Shafaq Iqbal Farooqi
LAHORE - Come February and with it begins spring. The season also marks the beginning of literary fairs embellished with the hues of literature and culture. Every year, the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) not only gathers some of the bright writers of the 21st century, but also serves as a means of quenching the literary thirst of those who enjoy dialogues and insightful conversations.
The 10th edition of the LLF is set to begin at the Alhamra Arts Council today (Feb 24) and it will continue till Sunday (Feb 26). Luminaries from around the globe will participate in the festival. A Nobel laureate and two Booker Prize winners are going to be the highlight of this year’s festival.
The leads of the festival include Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka, the 2022 Booker Prize winner for his novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida and South African novelist and playwright Damon Galgut, the Booker Prize winner for 2021 for his novel, The Promise, but the biggest of them all is Tanzanian-born British novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, the recipient of 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature. This edition of the festival will also feature performances, screenings, book launches and art exhibitions.
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The first day of the festival will be opened with a dialogue from the Nobel laureate for literature Abdulrazaq Gurnah after which H.M Naqvi and Osama Siddiqui will have dialogue with Mustansar Hussain Tarar.
Another session will have a discussion on the autobiography of Sarah Suleri and the launch of various books, while one session titled ‘Stealing from the Saracens: How Islamic Architecture Shaped Europe’ will be conducted while looking at the intricacies of history.
Similarly, eminent filmmakers and actors Jamil Dehlavi, Shahid Zahid and Nasreen Rehman will participate in the film and art session named ‘Moving Pictures’, while the screening of the film Immaculate Conception, featuring Zia Mohyeddin, Shabana Azmi and Melissa Leo is also part of the festival. Moreover, the well-known Persian poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi will talk about Shahnameh, while there will also be a discussion on travelogues titled ‘Vistas, Unveiled Three Centuries of Travel Writing by Muslim Women’.
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On second day of the carnival, a book titled "In Cricket We Trust" will be launched, which cricket, nation, identity and politics in Pakistan will be discussed. Ali Khan and Bushra Aitzaz are pansllists.
Another session will be on Ghalib's poetry in which Hijaz Naqvi, Anjum Altaf and Faisal Siddiqi will enlighten the audience with ideas. Similarly, the launch of books of Sahabzada Yaqub Khan and Shahbaz Taseer will also be included in the festival.
The session titled "Harf ba Harf" is having International Booker Prize winner Daisy Rockwell, Nasreen Rehman and Sarwat Mohiuddin and Bilal Tanweer. Sessions containing anecdotes, travelogues, photography from different countries are also part of the festival.
A session on the topic of "Power Failure" to discuss Pakistan’s search for stability will also be held in which former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi will participate.
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The third day of the festival will begin with the theme "What Constitutes a Great Novel?" in which fiction writers will discuss the characters and context of enduring works. Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatikala, Mohsin Hamid, H.M. Naqvi and Nadifa Mohamed will be on the panel. There will be a session on the poetry of Allama Iqbal titled ‘Poetics of Iqbal’, while the session on "Traditions of Poetry" will be held by Iftikhar Arif, Syeda Hameed, Kishwar Naheed and Zehra Nigah.
Palestinian writer Adania Shibli will speak on the book "Palestine’s Literary Force". Furthermore, Pakistani-origin architect Sunita Kohli will speak on the topic of ‘Kala: Essays and Illustrated Talk’.
