Ameena Saiyid,
Managing Director of Oxford University Press, Pakistan (OUP), has just announced
in Karachi that to celebrate 70 years of Pakistan’s creation, Pakistan’s
biggest literary event, the Karachi Literature Festival (KLF), which her
company produces, will be launched in London on 20 May 2017 at a prestigious
arts centre, the Southbank Centre, as part of their Alchemy festival – an annual
festival celebrating the rich cultural relationship between the UK and South
Asia.
KLF London
promises to be a vibrant celebration of Pakistani literature and arts. Ameena highlighted
that, with its creative culture and range of diverse communities,
London is the ideal city for KLF to launch itself outside Pakistan. The event
will be a great opportunity for Londoners, particularly London’s significant
population of people of South Asian origin, to gain an insight into the region’s
complex history and culture as expressed through its literature and arts.
An exciting
programme of panel discussions, mushaira (poetry readings by groups of poets), and
performances is planned for the London edition of KLF. The festival will
feature a line-up of around 70 leading Pakistani-origin and international
writers, scholars, critics, journalists, and artists. Around 20 sessions
showcasing Pakistan’s rich history, literature, and culture are planned. Children’s
events will also be included.
Ameena announced the
bestselling author and journalist, Mohammed Hanif, will be the keynote speaker
at the festival’s opening event. Others participating include: Aamer
Hussein, Asif Kapadia, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, Bina Shah, Claire Chambers,
Faris Kermani, Farooq Bajwa, Fifi Haroon, H. M. Naqvi, Imtiaz Dharker,
Ishrat Husain, Kamila Shamsie, Kamran Asdar Ali, Khaled Anam, Laurent
Gayer, Maheen Khan, Maleeha Lodhi, Mirza Waheed, Moni Mohsin, Mukulika
Banerjee, Nasrin Mahmud Kasuri, Nimra Bucha, Omar Shahid Hamid, Owen Bennett-Jones, Qaisra
Shahraz, Rehan Sheikh, Sarah Ansari, Shayma Saiyid, Sherry Rehman, Shuja
Nawaz,Taimur Rahman, Urvashi Butalia, Victoria Schofield, Zaffar
Kunial, Zehra Nigah, and Ziauddin Sardar. Musical performances by
Khumariyaan and Saif Samejo are scheduled for the evening.
KLF London
sessions will cover themes of migration and displacement in novels; women and
transgender rights, geopolitical challenges facing Pakistan; Pakistan’s
education system; gender and class divide in Pakistan; challenges faced by Urdu
as a national language; Partition stories; influence of social media on
Pakistan’s politics; and challenges facing diaspora Pakistanis in Europe.
