Karachi Literature Festival concludes

KARACHI: The three day Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) concluded on Sunday.

The organisers said that prominent authors and speakers paid glowing tributes to distinguished writer Intizar Hussain throughout the 7th Karachi Literature Festival.

They said that Intizar Hussain not only contributed richly to Urdu literature but he was one of the keynote speakers at literature festival of past many years.

Hussain s personality and his works were discussed time to time at various sessions and he was being recalled of his versatile writing and contribution to literature of Pakistan which is also having global standing.

Speaking at the concluding session Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director, Oxford University Press Pakistan and Founder Director, KLF said: “the death of our distinguished Urdu writer Intizar Hussain three days before the opening of KLF not only deprived us of one of our finest speakers but also left behind a void in our literary culture and sadness in our hearts.

“I hope that in time more Intizar Hussains and more gifted authors will emerge from among our young writers.”

It was pointed out that the impact of the three days of discussions and discourse has been touching and astonishing.

Responses slowly became spontaneous and silence and conformity were replaced by curiosity and searching questions.

The discerning Pakistani voice was being heard in the halls of KLF which provided moments of self recognition for Pakistan.

Ms. Saiyid mentioned that Karachi one of the biggest cities of the world is a city of diversity where our citizens are people originating from every part of the Subcontinent and beyond.

“The many flavours of that diversity are what gives Karachi a special richness and makes it an apt location for the diversified nature of this Celebration of Books and Writers.

“At OUP and KLF we have been trying consistently to encourage young writers as this year we increased the number of annual awards for writing.

“KLF 2016 saw the launch of our fourth award the KLF Urdu Fiction, Non fiction Prize.

“We also announced the Italy Reads Pakistan award,” she said.

This year, foreign and local authors also visited KLF from Italy, France, the UK, the US, India and distant parts of Pakistan to enrich and inspire audience of Karachi.

The event started off a session “Kashmir: The Never ending Conflict” by Barkha Dutt, Jean Luc Racine and Rafique Kathwari moderated by Farhan Bokhari.

“Towards a Better Pakistan: Screenings of Short Films” followed by Award Ceremony moderated by Pervez Hoodbhoy, “Facing Wrongs and Seeking Rights: The Female Perspective” Ruchira Gupta, Fouzia Saeed and Feryal Ali Gauhar moderated by Shaheen Attiq ur Rahman, “Pakistan Modernity and Post-coloniality” Nauman Naqvi and Shahram Azhar, moderated by Hafeez Jamali and a Documentaries workshop by Rafeeq Ellias.

UBL Literary Excellence Awards were given to Asghar Nadeem Syed, Arfa Sayeda Zehra, Anwaar Ahmad, Kishwar Naheed, Ghazi Salahuddin, Asif Farrukhi, Framji Minwalla and Wajahat Husain. (APP)