KARACHI: The press conference to announce the 10th Adab Festival, to take place between Nov 22 and 23, at Habitt City here on Friday was more than just a curtain-raiser. It was, as jokingly pointed out by the Festival’s Founder and Director Ameena Saiyid, a reminder of the courage and resilience of a woman, who launched a start-up in her seventies. Also those who stood by her every step of the way, her friend, the late writer and translator Asif Farrukhi and her late husband Aamer Aziz Saiyid, were not forgotten.

This will also be the first Adab Festival without Mr Saiyid, who never missed a festival organised by his wife, be it this festival or the Karachi Literature Festival, which was also started by Ameena. For the record, this is not the 10th year of the Adad Festival. Still, it is the 10th as they have held more than one festivals in a single year.

While providing an overview of the 10th Adab Festival, Ameena said that entry, as always, will be free and throughout the two days of the event they will have simultaneous sessions in various languages including local languages such as Sindhi, Punjabi, Seraiki, Balochi, Pashto and also Burushaski, which is spoken in Gilgit-Baltistan. Plus, there will be book launches, panel discussions, mushairas at the various areas of Habitt.

As in the past, the Adab Festival’s carefully curated programme will feature an impressive range of diverse speakers including Zehra Nigah, Kishwer Naheed, Shandana Minhas, Noorul Huda Shah, Farhatullah Babar, Mian Raza Rabbani, Kashif Raza, Ziad Zafar, Peerzada Salman, Nadeem Farooq Paracha, Bina Shah, Amin Gulgee, Dr Faisal Mushtaq, Sultana Siddiqui, Mahtab Akbar Rashdi, Sharmila Faruqui, Shazia Marri, retired General Moinuddin Hyder, Dr Mohammad Ali Shaikh, Shabbar Zaidi, Syed Salim Raza, Saif Samejo, Salma Alam, Omayr Aziz Saiyid, Nadia Naqi, Fazil Jamili, Mazhar Abbas, Azhar Abbas, Naila Mahmood, Omar Shahid Hamid, Safinah Danish Elahi, Dr Huma Baqai and more.

Two-day event to kick off on Nov 22 at Habitt City

All notable recently published books will be discussed.

The Adab Festival/Infaq Foundation Awards will also be announced, recognising outstanding writings in Urdu, English, and Sindhi.

Moreover, there will be music and entertainment, a creative writing workshop for kids aged 12 to 18 by the young author Taha Kehar, and much more. Atif Badar will hold a session for young children, award-winning investigative journalist Ziad Zafar will hold a session for journalists, actors Khaled Anam, Misbah Khalid, Junaid Khan and Arshad Mahmood will be focusing on drama and music and senior journalist Sumera Saeed Naqvi will do a book talk in view of her recently published translation of her grandfather Syed Mohammad Taqi’s book Karbala, Tehzeeb ka Mustaqbil titled The Future of Civilization where she will discuss the burning issues of our society.

Actor, writer and translator Shama Askari; Arts Programme Coordinator at the British Council Khadija Hussaini and lawyer Waheed Noor were among the many guests who also spoke at the press conference.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2025