Launched in 2010, the annual two-day Karachi Literature Festival is open to all and free. The first of its kind in Pakistan, it brings together and celebrates Pakistani and international authors writing in languages such as Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, English, German and French. It features creative writing workshops, debates/discussions, lectures, Mushaira (Urdu poetry jam), a book fair, book launches, readings, signings, interactive story-telling for children, music/theatre performances, and more.

Founded by Ameena Saiyid OBE and Asif Farrukhi, and organized by the British Council and Oxford University Press, the Festival has grown rapidly. Attendance rose from roughly 5,000 in 2010 to 10,000 in 2011. While the 2010 Festival had at most two simultaneous sessions, with a total of 35 programmed participants, the 2011 Festival had up to four with 97: in 2012 we are expecting about 145 programmed participants. Each year the participants have been outstanding. Keynote addresses were given by Shamsur Rahman Faruqi in 2010, Karen Armstrong in 2011 and William Dalrymple will deliver the keynote address in 2012.

In 2011, the Karachi Literature Festival Prize of Rs 100,000 was given to a Pakistani/Pakistani-origin author for the best non-fiction book in English, published in 2010. The jury consisted of Zubeida Mustafa, Ghazi Salahuddin and Dr. Jaffer Ahmad. The winner was Ilhan Niaz for The Culture of Power and Governance of Pakistan (1947-2008).

The Karachi Literature Festival also celebrates music, dance and theater arts, which are often connected to literature. The 2010 Festival featured nightly performances by Tehrik-e-Niswan of “A Song of Mohenjodaro” (dance drama) and an Urdu play. The 2011 Festival began with a homage to Amir Khusro by Sheema Kermani’s group, featured Ajoka Theatre’s performances of sections of Shahid Nadeem’s Bulha (Punjabi play) and Dara, (Urdu play) and culminated with a tribute to Faiz Ahmed Faiz in the year of his 100th birth anniversary. The Faiz tribute featured literary and music favourites like Zehra Nigah, Tina Sani, Laal (band), Raza Rumi and Ali Sethi.

In 2012 we are introducing film screenings to our diverse line-up of events, followed by discussion / Q &A. To celebrate the birth bicentennial of Charles Dickens this year, Owen Calvert-Lyons and Peter Higgin from London, UK, will stage theatre inspired by “The Uncommercial Traveler,” Dickens’ “account of (among other things) his wanderings around London.” This year we’re also featuring puppet and muppet shows for children by the Rafi Peer group (all day, every day), a satire/comedy session with Ali Aftab Saeed (Beygairat Brigade), Saad Haroon, and the Banana News Network, and performances by Nritaal and Salman Ahmed of Junoon. 

Karachi Literature Festival widens scale
KARACHI: This time round, it’s bigger. People will not only get to hear and meet writers, but will also be able to see films at the 3rd Karachi Literature Festival on Feb 11 and 12.

This was announced by the founder of the festival, Oxford University Press (OUP) Managing Director Ameena Saiyid, at a press conference at the OUP office on Thursday.

She was accompanied on the dais by writer Asif Farrukhi and the British Council’s Martin Fryer and Shreela Ghosh.

Ms Saiyid said the 2012 edition of the festival would be more exciting and diverse as some new things were added to the list of programmes. She said there was a big lineup of writers. In one-on-one sessions, they would talk about their books and other subjects. Alongside the book-related events and sessions arranged for children, films would be screened, including two from Bangladesh (Meherjaan and A Certain Liberation) and one from India (Harun Arun). Clips from the Oscar-nominated documentary, Saving Face, made by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, too, would be shown.

Ms Saiyid dubbed the festival a celebration of writing and writers and informed the media about the consulates who had sponsored authors. She mentioned the support lent by the US Consulate, the German Consulate, the Alliance Francaise and the British Council to the festival.

British Council Programmes Director Martin Fryer said it was in 2009 that his predecessor was invited by Ameena Saiyid and Asif Farrukhi to take part in the event. There was a twinkle in their eyes, and two years on the festival had become an important event, he said.

He added that it was remarkable how in the span of two days the organisers were able to put so much in.

Commenting on Pakistani writings in English, he said they were dynamic and the festival (an embarrassment of riches) provided a window to the international community to see that. He said since this year was the 200th birth anniversary of Charles Dickens, two of British theatre groups Punch Drunk and Arcola would conduct a theatrical session on Dickens.

Shreela Ghosh, Director Arts for Wider South Asia, British Council, highlighted the fact that different literature festivals had preceded Karachi’s (Dhaka, Galle and Jaipur) and argued such events were important because people got to learn from each other and know about one another’s cultures. She said the region had a strong literary tradition. The festival may be exhausting, it would be glorious nonetheless, she concluded.

Asif Farrukhi lamented the fact that some authors were left out because of not enough room, but felt elated at the prospect that many Pakistani books written in English, Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Balochi, Pushto and Saraiki would feature in the festival.

He mentioned Ahmed Fawad (from the Swat valley) and Amar Sindhu (from Hyderabad) as two of the notable writers.

Replying to a question, Ms Saiyid said though getting together of the authors was the main feature, debate and dialogue on important topics were no less significant part of the festival.

Mr Farrukhi told the media that since 2012 was Sadat Hasan Manto’s birth centenary and Nazir Ahmed’s death centenary, their relevance to modern times would be discussed in sessions on them. Dawn
-
KARACHI – The third two-day Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) begins on February 11, announced the British Council Pakistan, the Oxford University Press (OUP) Pakistan and Asif Farrukhi at a press conference on Thursday.
Briefing the journalists about KLF, OUP Pakistan Managing Director Ameena Saiyid said KLF is a reflection of Pakistan’s historical roots as expressed in a multiplicity of languages and in various forms of writing.
“Taking advantage of interest in writing from and about Pakistan, the festival also seeks to broaden the picture and counterbalance the negative depiction of society in Pakistan by celebrating the diversity and dynamism of this society,” she added.
Through dialogue and discussion, readings and rendering, the festival is intended to create an intellectual space in which the diversity and pluralism in Pakistan’s society is expressed by authors from traditions both within and beyond Pakistan’s borders, she said, adding that the festival would allow these writers to be freely accessible to people in an open and participatory manner.
Describing the features of KLF 2012, she said this year, award-winning British historian and writer William Dalrymple, who has written numerous books on the history of South Asia, Middle East and the Muslim world, would be the keynote speaker.
She said the festival would host many other authors writing in English, such as Hanif Kureishi, Vikram Seth, Shobhaa De, Anatol Lieven, Ayesha Jalal, Ahmed Rashid, Kamila Shamsie, Mohammed Hanif, Mohsin Hamid, HM Naqvi, Siddhartha Deb and Mirza Waheed.
In addition to this, she said, many Urdu poets and authors, including Intizar Hussain, Zehra Nigah, Iftikhar Arif, Fahmida Riaz, Kishwar Naheed, Fatema Hassan, Harris Khalique, Azra Abbas, Imdad Hussaini, Sahar Ansari, Khwaja Razi Haider, Inam Nadeem, Kashif Hussain Ghayar, Shahida Hassan, Ahmed Fouad, Aqeel Abbas Jafri and Ali Akbar Natiq, would also be in attendance.
She said the session would also feature sessions with German authors, like Jurgen Wasim Frembgen, Stefan Weidner and Navid Kermani, as well as French authors, like Michel Boivin, Anouar Benmalek and Claudine Le Tourneur d’Ison.
This year, film screenings are being introduced to the diverse line-up of events at the festival, she said, adding that also being featured this year are puppet shows for children by the Rafi Peer Theatre, a satire session with Saad Haroon, Banana News Network and Beygairat Brigade’s Ali Aftab Saeed, and performances by Nritaal Group and Junoon’s Salman Ahmad.
“To mark the 200th birth anniversary of Charles Dickens, a group of young performers will showcase an example of immersive theatre based on Dickens’ ‘The Uncommercial Traveller’, followed by workshops conducted by Owen Calvert-Lyons from London’s Arcola Theatre and Peter Higgins from the British theatre company Punchdrunk,” she said.
She said, “Based on age-old literary and cultural histories as well as creative opportunities of the moment, the KLF draws upon this dynamism by bringing together writers and poets, scholars and academics from a diversity of cultures, languages, academic disciplines and intellectual traditions to create an opportunity for cultural dialogue and exchange through celebration of writing and books,” said British Council Pakistan Programmes Director Martin Fryer.
To meet the increasing demand from across Pakistan as well as from beyond its borders for access to the festival, many of this year’s sessions would be telecast live on the internet, he added.
“All sessions will be recorded and made available on the festival’s channel on YouTube as in previous years,” he said.
He also said, “We recognise that such opportunities as presented by the festival are few and far between and, hence, we feel that this festival has a vital function,” said Asif Farrukhi.
“We think of it as a window through which the world can see and connect with the realities of Pakistan and from which Pakistan can encounter what is happening in the world,” he added.
British Council South Asia Arts Director Shreela Ghosh from Bangladesh said KLF is playing an important role in presenting the richness of contemporary fiction and non-fiction writing from Pakistan as well as about the country and the region. Pakistan today

Incoming search terms: