When an Indian literary model is an eclectic mix and a Pakistani literary festival is attracting some of the best in the industry, then why won’t business invest in cultural philanthropy?

IN 2009, when the Karachi-based managing director for Oxford University Press, Ameena Saiyid went to Jaipur she thought about creating something similar in the sleepy, ‘culturally’ elitist city of Karachi. It wasn’t easy to attract international authors and to have them turn down your request and lack of internal security meant persevering. In 2010, the Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) began small with 5,000 people. This weekend it’s expected to attract over 145 writers and panellists with thousands attending the two-day festival.

Sponsored by the British Council, KLF has big name attractions: Hanif Kureishi, Vikram Seth, Mirza Waheed and William Dalrymple, also co-director of Jaipur will open the festival. Discussions will be live-streamed and film screenings included for the first time. Big personalities and instantaneous audience recognition work well but it’s the contemporary newer writers and comedians who could possibly pull in crowds with curiosity (and energy). This is also a time when Pakistani fiction and non-fiction is gaining intellectual strength globally: an impetus being political interest in the region. Here Saiyid tells about why KLF is a celebration of free expression and debate (and what it takes to churn those literary ‘genes’)

What was your vision for the Karachi Literature Festival?

In 2009 I went to Jaipur for the first time. It hadn’t at that time mushroomed into what it is today and so I managed to interact with some authors. I was impressed at how Indian authors were treated like celebrities when Pakistani writers at home didn’t get that kind of support and adulation. Everything was free and the seating open. In 2010, when I attended it began to resemble a mob scene, choked over those five days. There must have been somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 people and I didn’t even get space to sit on the grass. When we started KLF we had about 35 authors and moderators in the first year and last year we went up to 140 names with some names that were no less than Jaipur. Our vision is to use dialogue, debate, and literary readings and so inviting authors to discuss the diversity and pluralism found in Pakistan and globally within this literary space.

Authors must be accessible to readers and freely talk about issues of concern and their own writing.

KLF is not a ticketed festival. What are the challenges in terms of finding the right business patrons sharing similar ethical values? Do you raise funds, attract sponsors?

The British Council has so far acted as KLF’s major financial sponsor along with the French and German consulates. So far we haven’t had other corporate sponsors and would like to interest them but haven’t approached any seriously because we haven’t found the need to do so. We would approach sponsors that share some kind of values with us. Yes it would be helpful to have additional funds though we spend what we receive each year and do not have an interest in building an endowment fund. If we began building a fund and saving, we would need to hire professional fund-raisers and organisers full-time, working all year towards the festival like they do at Galle. KLF is all voluntary.

Last year, the festival drew journalists and policy analysts from the region and despite packed sessions on regional politics, there was criticism that many spoke more about the Pak-Afghan-US relationship than about stories and writing and the imagination. What would you say to that?

There is politics in literature and we look at themes that audiences, readers and critics are concerned with, writing about and discuss at open forums. In today’s literature Bangladesh, for example, features prominently as does Kashmir: and we have sessions focused on writings from these places. Fiction more so today is based on the politics of the time. This is possibly prevalent because global events affecting the people have entered the narrative and consciousness of writers. We also feel that films are a part of expression and we encourage debate through cinema and the celebration of free expression.

How did you manage to get Hanif Kureishi to come to the festival this year? I heard Orhan Pamuk was coming but declined: are reasons for not attending mainly about security concerns when you invite authors to Karachi?

I met Hanif Kureishi at Jaipur and found him slightly brusque but because he is such a major player in the literary world weextended an invite and he accepted. In fact, no one for this year declined because of security reasons. They have busy schedules. We try not to invite the same authors each year. It’s a complicated process and yes, we had Robert Fisk, Pamuk and Mark Tully on our list but they were unable to come this year so maybe in 2013. We tried coaxing Jamil Ahmed, author of The Wandering Falcon who just won the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize but he is frail and clearly wasn’t up to the trip. We begin early with our invites and have some writers for next year: Shashi Tharoor (Indian politician and author of 12 books) and Nayantara Sahgal (author and Jawaharlal Nehru’s niece) are coming. It will have to be a fine balance between young, energetic writers and a celebration of established authors. Our basic objective is to celebrate writers and we manage well without controversy. We don’t need that kind of super hype to take away from sessions.

You find a particular type of audience at the festival. Is this because of language constraints — most discussions are in English?

The lack of education inherent in our society and so the lack of literary audiences are reasons why the festival has limited participants from a certain social class. The mushairas and Urdu sessions though bring in more crowds. KLF is on its way to becoming an institution and I thought about advertising it more vigorously this year with a campaign but the venue and infrastructure is not sufficient. Limiting audience participation through video screens is not fair when we don’t have enough seating. We want audiences to interact with authors.

Let’s talk about the publishing industry which is not growing rapidly. Why has Pakistan failed to attract the larger names like Penguin and Random House that are now well-established franchises? Can festivals of this nature help?

The problem here is piracy, poorly enforced laws and the lack of intellectual property rights. When writers don’t get a return for their labour, they publish abroad where they receive royalties and an advance in some cases which can sustain them financially allowing them to pursue a career as a full-time author. At Oxford University Press when our books are pirated we take action — conduct raids — and perpetrators have become careful. In India, strong anti-piracy laws mean better enforcement. Literary awards like the Jaipur DSC award means large monetary rewards and with no such incentive for literary activity here, authors look elsewhere. The corporate sector needs to step in here. Also the government is seriously discouraging publishing. For example, the National Book Foundation publishes authors when in fact it should be supporting writers, training editors and publishers, and instituting awards on a large scale. Penguin was interested in coming to Pakistan but the lack of security prevents them.

The interviewer is a staffer at the monthly Herald