Literary festival begins tomorrow

LAHORE
Faiz Foundation Trust/Faiz Ghar (FFT/FG) is partnering with the annual Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) 2015 which begins at Alhamra Arts Council on Friday (today).
On the first day of the festival, FFT/FG Trustee Mira Hashmi will be in conversation with acclaimed Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah about his recently released autobiography ‘And Then One Day’ along with writer/director Sarmad Khoosat.
On Saturday, Dr Ali Hashmi will be launching his English translation of the widely popular Urdu short story collection ‘Qaim Deen’ along with the book’s author Ali Akbar Natiq. Also on Saturday, renowned artiste and FFT Chairperson Ms Salima Hashmi will be at the launch of her book ‘The Eye Still Seeks: Contemporary Art from Pakistan’. Later, Ms Hashmi will be in conversation with Faiza Butt, the London-based Pakistani artiste along with novelist and writer Kamila Shamsie. The session is titled ‘We Are All Stardust: An Artist’s Journey’.
On Sunday, actor, writer, director and FFT Trustee Adeel Hashmi will be in conversation with Kashmiri author and screenwriter Basharat Peer whose maiden film ‘Haider’ (directed by Vishal Bhardwaj) was recently released to great acclaim along with writer and critic Sarwat Ali. The session will be moderated by novelist and musician Ali Sethi and is titled ‘Faiz: Kuch ishq kiya kuch kaam kiya’.
Later in the day, Dr Ali Hashmi will moderate a session on the writings of Ismat Chughtai and Left wing Urdu literature. He will be in conversation with Prof M Asaduddin, Head of Department of English at Jamia Millia University, New Delhi, IA Rehman, journalist and Director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Ms Ameena Saiyid, Managing Director of Oxford University Press, Pakistan. On Tuesday, Basharat Peer will be at Faiz Ghar (126-F Model Town) to talk about his book on Kashmir ‘Curfewed Night’ as well as his feature film ‘Haider’. Faiz Foundation Trust/Faiz Ghar has been partnering with LLF since its inception in 2012. Last year, the festival was attended by over 50,000 people.