KARACHI: The three-day Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) returns for its 17th edition from February 6 to 8 at the Beach Luxury Hotel.

Organised by Oxford University Press Pakistan, this year’s festival will explore the theme ‘Literature in a Fragile World’, examining how stories, poetry, and critical thought respond to social, political, and cultural uncertainty and change, said a press release issued here on Saturday.

“In an increasingly fractured world, literature remains one of the last spaces where dogmas can be questioned and humanity can speak to itself without fear,” said OUP Managing Director Arshad Saeed Husain, reflecting on the festival’s purpose.

This year, the festival will host over 200 delegates from eight countries, featuring more than 90 sessions, 28 book launches in three languages, two documentaries and two feature films.

Keynote speakers include Senator Sherry Rehman, Mohammed Hanif, Nasir Abbas Nayyar and Khurshid Rizvi, alongside a distinguished line-up of writers, poets, critics, and thinkers from Pakistan and abroad.

The festival features a special session celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2026