ISLAMABAD: The 3rd Islamabad Literature Festival drew to a close with speeches by founders of the Karachi and Islamabad literature festivals, Ameena Saiyid and Asif Farrukhi, and two key note addresses.

Ameena Saiyid spoke about the ethos of the festivals. She said: “We gather to pay homage to authors who connect communities, share ideas and provide different perspectives.”

She thanked the various sponsors and individuals who supported the festival, particularly mentioning Intizar Hussain who had taken the stage at an earlier session, with Kishwar Naheed and Asghar Nadeem Syed to discuss Syed’s thought provoking collection of poems, ‘Adhoori Kulliyat’, (the incomplete complete works).

At the behest of Kishwar Naheed, Syed recited a number of poems from the work, including a magnificent construction entitled, ‘Nazm Kaise Tayar Ki Jaaye’ (How to Prepare a Poem). With words that survive torture, emotions that outlast tragedy and other essentials, Syed writes what Intizar Hussain called modern poetry.

He said: “Modern poetry is very easy to read and beautifully expressed but after reading the poems, you wonder what the meaning was. This layered, nuanced trait is characteristic of modern poems.”

Intizar Husain also noted that Syed’s dramas were straightforward while his poetry was not. Syed explained: “The drama is written for a wider audience. With a poem the author has complete discretion of what he says and how he says it.”

Ameena also thanked Pran Nevile for travelling from India to Pakistan saying that if she could, she would present Nevile with the key to the city of Lahore. Neville in his session, ‘From Lollywood to Bollywood and Back’, had said: “I do not just love Lahore, I adore it! It is the city I was born in, I grew up in and was educated in. I learnt to appreciate music and art there. I visited Noor Jehan’s house in 1941.”

Playing a short excerpt of his documentary, Indo-Pak Musical Journey, Nevile regaled the audience with anecdotes of his life and trivia about treasures from Lahore’s cultural heritage – pre-Partition films and celebrities.

Ameena added, “Along with authors from various countries, we have also had the privilege of having the largest book distributor from India present at the ILF whose father started the business of selling books in Kohat. The ILF has paid tribute to the common heritage of the Subcontinent and will continue to build bridges amongst communities and people.”

Asif Farrukhi said: “As the festival draws to a close we are filled to the brim with books and talks about books but we are not fatigued. Instead we are feeling contented.”

He added: “Putting together a festival such as this is a year-long process of planning and the work for the next festival begins as soon as the ILF ends. There is much more to be done as there are millions of eyes in Pakistan that cannot understand the written word and we have learnt to put guns in our teachers’ hands.”

In her keynote address, Zehra Nigah said: “I want to commend the organisers and the publishers who continue to publish books. When I see young people bent over stalls of books it gives me immense hope.”

Paul Harding, the second keynote speaker, said: “I came to this festival to listen, watch, witness and to learn and therefore, the keynote I had intended to strike was that of respectful silence.”

He added: “Art requires time, space, education and mutual cooperation. A great deal of human energy is expended in objectification and our job as artists is to subjectify and give each other sanctuary. These sanctuaries take the form of literature festivals and spaces like T2F created by Sabeen in Karachi.”

Framji Minwalla read a delegate statement regarding the murder of Sabeen Mahmud, which says, “We affirm that we hold no subject unapproachable, no topic taboo. And through this we say that all discourse – social, political, artistic – must be de-weaponised. We celebrate the depth and nuance of language, whether it be the language of words, of movement, of image, of sound or of numbers. This is what Sabeen Mahmud stood for. This is what the Islamabad Literature Festival stands for. This is what we all stand for, together, with the fallen and the living.”

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2015

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