Here is all you need to know about the three-day event, scheduled to be held at Beach Luxury Hotel, Karachi.
The 10th Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) kicks-off in the city of lights today, that is, March 1 at the Beach Luxury Hotel. Like every year, the three-day festival will host literature enthusiasts, authors, critics, artists and literary figures such as writers Deborah Baker and Elena Nicolai from different parts of the world, excluding India due to the ongoing heightening, persistent tension between the two states.
Starting from today 5:00 pm onwards with welcome and keynote speeches, KLF 2019 Day One will feature a performance by Sheema Kermani, called ‘Aao Humwatno Raqs Karo’ in the Main Garden. This will be followed by a discussion on ‘Pakistan Cinema – Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow featuring Fahad Mustafa, Mehwish Hayat, Yasir Hussain, Munawar Saeed, Nabeel Qureshi and Asif Raza Mir on the panel.
Simultaneously, Jawad Sharif’s documentary, titled Indus Blues that features Pakistani folk artists talking about their struggle to keep a fading art form alive will have its premiere with director-producer Jawad in attendance. The day will conclude with a theatrical performance, ‘Safr-e-Pakistan: Pakistan’s Travelogue in String Puppets’ by Thespianz Theatre which will be directed by Faisal Malik.
Day Two will commence with a session called ‘Filmy Gaanay Aur Urdu Shairi’ that will take place in the Main Garden and will feature renowned playwright Haseena Moin, Arfa Sayeda Zehra and Sultan Arshad as panelists, followed by ‘Urdu Theatre: Kal Aaj Aur Kal’ featuring Sajid Hasan, Zain Ahmed, Kulsoom Aftab and Sheema Kermani.
The second day will have sessions such ‘Beyond The Novel – Future Directions in Pakistani Writing’ featuring Taha Kehar, Sana Munir, Qazi Fasih and Faiqa Mansab; ‘Publishing 2020 And Beyond – New Trends, Digitization and Technology’ featuring Bilal Zahoor, Arshad Husain and Noman Said on the panel with Hoori Noorani moderating.
Meanwhile, the LOL Waalay comedy troupe featuring Akbar Chaudhry, Syed Kumail, Zubair Tariq, Sannan Wastani and Ali Gul Pir will perform in the evening under ‘Filbadi Fun With LOL Waalay’ while Madiha Aijaz’s documentary These Silences Are All The Words will also be screened simultaneously.
The final day of the festival will open with a session called ‘Is Today’s Media Informing Society or Dumbing it Down?’ with Ghazanfar Hashmi, Amna Khaishgi, Azhar Abbas, Fahd Husain and Ghazi Salahuddin on the panel. In the afternoon, there is a session on the state of television called ‘TV Drama ¬– Rise and Fall featuring Kaif Ghaznavi, Saife Hasan, Azfar Rehman and Marina Khan as panelists with Khaled Anam as moderator. This will be followed by ‘Kuch Bhi – A talk by Anwar Maqsood’ in the Main Garden.
Some of the book launches that are scheduled to take place during the three day festival include Beyond The Fields by Aysha Baqir, Points of Entry – Encounters At the Origin-Sites of Pakistan by Nadeem Farooq Paracha, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto – The Psychodynamics of his Rise and Fall by Shamim Ahmad, Adh Adhooray Lok by Hafeez Khan and Pakistaniat Kiya Hai? by Javed Jabbar, among others.
To check out the complete schedule, visit Karachi Literature Festival’s official Facebook page.
