KARACHI: Credit should be given where it is due. So let’s hand it to the organisers of the annual Karachi Literature Festival for holding its sixth edition without fail even in circumstances that are not always conducive to large-scale gatherings.

When the festival first began in 2010, Karachi’s book lovers didn’t have a clear idea that what cerebral treat they were in for. But it didn’t take them long to realise that the event was one of its kind not only because of the carnival-like environment that it exuded but also because they got to listen to, and meet in person, some of the brightest men and women belonging to the world of literature and social sciences.

This, of course, served another very important purpose. It showed to the rest of the world that a country which was mired in countless problems, including the menace of terrorism, could muster the courage to project its real image the way it merited: the image that Karachiites in particular and Pakistanis in general loved to read, and knew how to value their writers and thinkers.

As a result, the festival got bigger and better with each following year, and writers and social scientists of international repute started to attach importance to it. In the years that followed, the likes of Vikram Seth, Hanif Kureishi, William Dalrymple and Karen Armstrong attended the event and delivered incisive keynote speeches.

This writer distinctly remembers a meeting with the noted Indian literary critic Shamsur Rehman Farooqui in which he had commented that while the Jaipur Literature Festival was larger in size, the Karachi Literature Festival had more warmth and affection. He was spot on. Among other things that the festival organisers did was to make sure that the spirit of camaraderie and bonhomie was kept alive despite unsavoury sociopolitical situations or the occasional inclement weather.

Although the sixth edition seems to be a tad short in the number of men of letters, and some of the names that many book lovers were expecting to see in 2015 have not made it to the list of programmes, the festival still promises to maintain the high standards of session-wise discussions on important subjects.

There are more than 200 speakers, 37 from nine countries and the rest from Pakistan, who will express their views on a variety of topics during the 80-plus sessions that will take place over the course of three days. No fewer than 28 books will also be launched and experts will shed light on their salient features.

Then, as always, those who are interested in the performing arts can enjoy the traditional art forms of the dastangoi and mushaira, with a very insightful programme on the 100 years of Sindhi fiction.

Prizes will also be given to best books of 2014 in the categories of fiction and non-fiction with a prize for a book promoting peace.

This year two eminent women will deliver keynote speeches on the opening day of the festival: Nayantara Sahgal and Zehra Nigah. Ms Sahgal is an internationally renowned Indian fiction writer in English and Ms Nigah is a highly respected Pakistani Urdu poet.

The sixth Karachi Literature Festival begins on Friday (today) at 5pm at the Beach Luxury Hotel.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2015

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