It’s that time of the year again in Pakistan. Literary festivals are upon us and every year new cities are opening their arms to the idea. The city stamp is unmistakable when it comes to literary festivals, as if they owe their life and a lot more to the city. In some cases, when a small place like Gwadar hosts a festival, it becomes a window that showcases the linguistic and literary richness of the entire province.

It must be kept in mind, however, that literary festivals draw on a huge literary resource but manage to bring out only a fraction of it. People in small towns and villages are repositories of oral and written literary traditions that these brand new festivals stay oblivious about. Even in cities where the festivals are held, they fail to tap all readers and writers who keep reading and writing without caring if and when a festival happened so close to them.

And yet this is a trend that has captivated people’s imagination all across the world. In our Special Report today, we have tried to look at how and if the culture of festivals is impacting the literature being produced in our midst.

Read also: Literature in the time of festivals

There has always been a considerable critique of the structure and exclusiveness of the festivals, especially in big cities. Some of this criticism was well-taken and the subsequent festivals have been more evolved and inclusive than before. In a few cases, a particular literary festival decided to move abroad during summers to cater to the Pakistani diaspora. All of this is discussed in today’s Special Report.