THIS time of the year is literary festival season, and cricket season, and following close on the heels of the Karachi Literature Festival, we had the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) of course. As per tradition, the puddles were there; though we did miss the sea of LLF umbrellas that bloomed at the first one and dotted the cityscape in 2013. There have been other changes too, in a good way. One only need look at the numbers for that.

The estimated turnout — bearing in mind that many attendees are there on two or three days — this year was 75,000; as compared to the first time round, which was 30,000. Delegates from 12 countries braved being here this year, and there were 15 book launches. The first LLF had 6 sponsors, and this year there were over 33. The number of sessions totalled 76; 42 more than at LLF 2013. And the menu on offer was rather delectable; which to pick and what to miss. I wish I could say that there was only one session in each time slot, so that one could attend as many as one wished, but that would not be logistically possible of course.

What I also enjoy is that each year the range on the itinerary seems to expand in various directions, which is great, since this is the only cognitive smorgasbord we are offered every year. You can laugh at Mohsin Hamid’s witticisms, enjoy an art show, and think aloud with Romila Thapar. Then wind up with some music. And perhaps pick up some pointers from published writers on the side ... it is a literary affair after all. Interestingly, not everyone has the same kind of experience when it comes to publishing a novel. There is the novelist who says publishing a novel in the US wasn’t easy, because they want a certain type of narrative from us (Soniah Kamal); the one who says she just wrote a chapter and it got accepted by a publishing house and then she had to write the rest (Saba Imtiaz). There is Bilal Tanweer, who says for him “writing is being at play,” and there is Mahesh Rao who says “writing was not the hard part at all, it was getting published”.

Speaking of which, there were 15 book launches at this year’s LLF. ‘The Trials of Writing a Debut Novel’ was a very well-moderated session by Mohsin Hamid, who must consider becoming a talk-show host in his next life. And there was a session on just that too, ‘Future of TV News: Journalism or Mirch Masala.’

Hamid himself launched his latest book: Discontent and Its Civilisations, a collection of essays, journalism and reflections. The talk centred on notions of belonging, and exclusivity. In our present political and socio-ethnic context, it is very relevant to bear in mind that “rootedness doesn’t have to be exclusionary”. Indeed, said Hamid, “somebody who moved here from the US is for me as Lahori as I am”. He discussed the concept of never really “belonging” whether he was in the US, or England, or even when he moved back to Lahore.

Further along the lines of the debate of civilisation, the strong panel discussing ‘Middle East: Between a Rock and a Hard Place’ comprised Yasmine El Rashidi, Shaimaa Khalil, Rabih Alameddine, moderated by none less than Roger Cohen. Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Tunisia all came up — the IS more than anything else — and this was one session that could easily have lasted into another hour.

Alameddine hit the right notes for his blatant statements, such as when he said “war on Iraq was not unnecessary, it was criminal. It’s as if the only thing we know to do is bomb people,” and the audience erupted in applause. Or when Yasmine El Rashidi stated that the “ISIS grew out of US invasion of Iraq. A suppressed group takes up violence.” I suppose we could see the parallel there in the Pakistani context.

And then some more parallels were drawn in ‘Living with internal differences: the South Asian dilemma,’ which had Romila Thapar, Ayesha Jalal and Asma Jahangir. One cannot disagree with Thapar saying “all societies have internal differences. Previously differences were localised, as a plural society. Now there are a whole range of groups fighting for power.” Or Jalal, when she said that “learning to live with internal differences is global and not just about Pakistan or South Asia”. An ideal democracy, secularism and the legal systems prevalent in both Pakistan and India were also discussed in a debate that was cohesive and thought-provoking. The audience loved Jahangir’s input — and how can you not? — when she issues statements like, “nowhere has Islam been as exploited as in Pakistan for political gain,” among a lot more that we need to hear.

There are many issues to discuss in the current political climate worldwide, be they global, Asian or Pakistani. And if just a few of them can be brought to the table here in Lahore, then it is a literary festival well-executed.

Going beyond issues, the sessions on art were a good mix thrown in. That is, besides the exhibitions. As Salima Hashmi in ‘We are all Stardust’ said, in her introduction to the talk, “the artist and writer being together here are the kind of bonds LLF hopes to create in Lahore”. Faiza Butt’s talk led aspiring artists through her process of inspiration and creating art works, while Kamila Shamsie concurrently shared that “everything Faiza said about being a painter is true of being a writer”. Putting Pakistani arts on the same platform, further, “poet, novelist, artist — we’re working with the same matter. There are certain things people don’t want to read and don’t want to see but we make them.”

Removed from this, and purely for aesthetic — and indulgent — pleasure, was Amber Sami’s talk on her process of creativity. This being jewellery design in kundan, using a variety of stones together with inspiration mostly from the heritage of the subcontinent. Imagery in the form of short films showcasing her work and process was a welcome departure after mulling over the serious debates of the world.

There was more talk on films — mainstream cinema, in this case, with Naseeruddin Shah. Shah is no stranger to Lahore; he visits when the opportunity presents itself. Nonetheless, the queue to hear him, and share the same space with him, went halfway to the moon. These are all free sessions after all. In fact, I’m certain that thousands of people were unable to get into many, many sessions, since there were serpentine queues outside most sessions. There was some consolation in the form of streaming lounges with live feeds from Halls 1, 2 and 3 for the spill-over viewers. Another quibble this time round was parking issues. Perhaps for next year the committee behind the event may want to consider a larger venue, like the expo centre.

Coming back, Shah was entertaining as expected, and took listeners along on his cinematic journey at his book launch talk. Asked to name some of his personal favourites, old classics came up — Pyaasa, Guide, Teesri Manzil — Mira Hashmi then questioned about his own favourite work. Was the answer predictable? Yes — Masoom it was. This tied in so well with his earlier statement, “an actor is remembered by the work he does.”

The last LLF session may have been on feminism, but what’s a festival without popular references — we loved Shobhaa De for saying “Fawad Khan is an incredible addition to Bollywood!” This closing session — very politically correct, one may say, was ... ‘Fifty Shades of Feminism.’ There was a bit of a surprise at the curtain-closer, too. Yes, we like our seriousness with a dash of mirch masala. Nusrat Jamil, president of the 2015 LLF Advisory Board, in her concluding talk to LLF 2015 shared that we almost didn’t get our Lit Fest this year. Just a day prior to the opening of the event, the event was cancelled by the government due to security reasons. That’s right: after all arrangements were in place and foreign participants had arrived. “It took us the whole day until 11:30 pm to get permission to go ahead, after pulling many strings,” we were told by her, after having enjoyed our Lit Fest. This is Pakistan for you, really, sunshine and rain.