LAHORE: The two-day Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) is beginning on Saturday (tomorrow) and will host discussions on a vast array of topics, featuring both foreign and local speakers.

Day One will see a panel assessing the return of illiberal, nationalist politics in “Light at the End of Trumpian Disorder”. Speakers will include the well-known Reza Aslan along with Ben Okri and Mark Leonard. Okri is an author considered to be rooted in post-modern and post-colonial tradition, while Leonard is a British political scientist and author. The session will be moderated by Ahmed Rashid, journalist and author.

The same day Mohsin Hamid will be conversing with Emmy-Award winning actor Riz Ahmed in “Meet the Actor, Rapper, and Activist”.

An assortment of sessions will follow including a reassessment by Audrey Truschke and F. S. Aijazuddin of the longest serving and the last strong Mughal Aurangzeb Alamgir – myths and facts. Truschke is the author of ‘Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth’.

As expected an entire panel session will be dedicated to renowned poet and columnist Munir Ahmed Qureshi, better known as Munoo Bhai, where I.A Rehman, Kishwar Naheed, Wajahat Masood, Hussain Naqi and Asghar Nadeem Syed will discuss his life and works.

Likewise ‘Asma Jahangir: Warrior Icon’ will have her children Munizae and Jilani Jahangir on panel along with close friend and comrade I.A Rehman, Salima Hashmi and Ahmed Rashid, moderated by journalist Lyse Doucet.

Book launches and discussions on books, and sessions on art and architecture dominate the rest of the first day. An interesting session will be with comedian Shafaat Ali.

Day two will see discussions on politics including present day Turkey, Baghdad, the United States, but also looks towards the effects on society by architecture and arts.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2018