LAHORE, Oct 2: The five-day third National Literary and Cultural Conference by the Lahore Arts Council will commence on Oct 10, officials told Dawn.

The conference will have delegates from all provinces. “This year it’s not going to be an international conference due to non- availability of certain international literary figures,” the officials said.

The event will have both literary and cultural activities at a broader scale as every night there will be theatre, film and dance performances by different artistes and groups.

Deputy Director Programmes Zulfiqar Ali Zulfi told Dawn the conference would cost some Rs2 million to Rs3 million, and the venue for the conference would be Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall.

He said preparations for the conference were in full swing and a lively and heavy participation of literary figures, intellectuals, writers, poets, people from fine arts and that of performing art was expected in the conference.

The five-day activity will kick off with a drama and film festival on Saadat Hasan Manto, the prolific short-story writer of the sub-continent.

On the inaugural day of the festival, a parallel cinema movie Naya Qanoon written and directed by Sarmad Sehbai will be screened. Same evening, a play “Dafa 292” will be staged by Azad Theatre Group.

The film and theatre festival will be held in collaboration with the Lahore Arts Council.

On the second day, another film directed by Sarmad Sehbai -- Saugandi -- will be screened and the same evening a play “Toba Tek Singh” by Ajoka will be staged.

On Oct 12, the conference will formally open and different sessions will be held on different topics. The participants will read their respective papers. From Oct 12 to 14, every night there will be cultural performances.

On Oct 12 evening, a grand musical show will be organised in which popular singers will perform.

Some of the prominent singers who will perform on the occasion include Attaullah Esa Khailvi, Muhammad Ali Shehki, Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan and Ghulam Ali.

On Oct 13 evening, there will be a poetry sitting in which poets from all over the country will participate.

On Oct 14, the last night of the conference, there will be an exclusive performance by classical dancer Naheed Siddique.

A three-day book fair is also part of the conference which will open with the opening of the conference.