KARACHI: Two hundred and five Pakistani and 30 international speakers and authors representing 10 countries will participate in the 9th Karachi Literature Festival (KLF), the highest number in the history of the event, which will take place at the Beach Luxury hotel on Feb 9, 10 and 11. This was said by the founder of the festival and Managing Director Oxford University Press Ameena Saiyid while informing the media about this year’s KLF programme on Thursday.

Ms Saiyid said the festival was open and free to all with no VIP seating. This was the ninth edition of the event and next year it would be a decade old, a cause for big celebration. The 9th KLF would have 205 Pakistani and 30 international speakers and authors from 10 countries — Pakistan, the UK, Germany, India, the US, Italy, France, the Canada, Maldives and Singapore — who would take part in 76 sessions.

The keynote speeches on the first day would be delivered by Francis Robinson and Noorul Huda Shah, and the concluding day would have three keynote addresses by Anwar Maqsood, Amit Chaudhuri and Mani Shankar Aiyar.

Author from 10 countries to take part in the event

Ms Saiyid said the three books shortlisted for the KLF-Pepsi Nonfiction Prize were: Lahore in the Time of the Raj by Ian Talbot and Tahir Kamran, Urban Traditions and Historic Environments in Sindh by Anila Naeem and Imagining Pakistan by Rasul Bakhsh Rais.

Aamer Naseer announced the shortlist for the KLF-Getz Pharma Fiction prize for the best novel or short story collection in English. They are: The Party Worker by Omar Shahid Hamid, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid and Snuffing out the Moon by Osama Siddique.

German Consul General Rainer Schmiedchen informed the media about the books shortlisted for the KLF-German Peace Prize: Prison Narratives by Akhtar Baloch, Indus Waters Treaty: Political and Legal Dimensions by Ijaz Hussain and Imagining Pakistan by Rasul Bakhsh Rais.

The co-founder of the festival, Asif Farrukhi, announced the books shortlisted for the KLF-Infaq Foundation Urdu Literature Prize: Deed Wa Deed by Altaf Fatma, Qila-i-Faramoshi by Fahmida Riaz and Aatey Hain Ghaeb Se by Anwar Shaoor.

Ms Saiyid said this time around the festival had introduced some new features such as the Sindhi mushairo, English poetry readings and an open mic session. Apart from that, there would be panel discussions, book launches, film screenings and sessions related to pop culture etc. She added that the KLF had joined hands with the Hyderabad Literature Festival and the latter would now help them organise the mushairo. “We should collaborate not compete,” she remarked.

Mr Farrukhi read out the names of some of the prominent speakers and pointed out that when the festival first began, 5,000 people attended it, and last year the figure was 200,000. “The graph is rising,” he said and wished that the festival could take place every day of the year.

Italian Consul General Anna Ruffino (who chanted ‘Pak-Italy dosti zindahbad’ in an endearing way), UBL’s Ali Habib and Pakistan Petroleum’s Farhat Anis also spoke.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2018