he 16th Karachi Literature Festival, hosted at Beach Luxury Hotel from February 7 to 9, was the go-to event for literature enthusiasts, researchers and anyone intrigued by global issues.

The inauguration was followed by a panel discussion on Bapsi Sidhwa. The session, Bapsi Sidhwa: A Literary Legacy Inspiring Future Voices, featured a documentary produced by Sadia Iqbal, revisiting the voice of the Parsi community, which has long lived in silence and on the margins.

Sidhwa transformed this silence into narrative agency, providing an outlet for the struggles of marginalised communities. Her work employed local, intricately woven idioms to decolonise the English language. A critical commentary on the Partition holocaust is another prominent theme in her writing, expressing deep dismay at the systematic violence that occurred. She also explored the adulteration of identity and the becoming of resilient women.

Kamila Shamsie, Uzma Aslam Khan and Saba Pirzadeh reflected on the legacy Sidhwa has left behind. Khan praised Sidhwa’s courage in writing from the margins. Shamsie recalled her as a ‘point of reference’ for mastering narrative writing.

One of the defining characteristics of the KLF is the diversity it consistently offers. Keeping in line with technological advancements and policies aimed at mitigating environmental degradation, the session

(The Fragrance of Paper is Fading: The Journey from Books to E-Books) proved highly insightful.

The panellists discussed the fast-paced and inevitable transformation of print media into digital formats, raising awareness about the need to adapt while preserving the romance of reading in new book forms. The discussion on e-books versus print literature encouraged the audience to reflect on the environmental damage caused by traditional printing on a global scale.

Mubeen Mirza, one of the panellists, pointed out the individual shortcomings that have contributed to a decline in reading habits at a societal level. He urged the audience to nurture a love for books, regardless of whether they are in electronic or print form, as a means to feed intellectual curiosity and critical thinking.

A major highlight of Day 1 was the conversation between Sarmad Khoosat and Asghar Nadeem Syed, exploring the intersection of cinema, society and literature. They discussed the power of cinema as a medium that provides both education and entertainment, shaping societal narratives in the process.

Syed lamented the rapid decline in the popularity and innovation of Pakistani cinema, warning that a medium with immense potential to preserve historical shifts and cultural landscapes was at risk of being pushed to the periphery. He sought to rekindle public interest in visual storytelling by prompting reflection on cinema’s role in shaping and reforming society, not just nationally but on a global scale as well.

The session (Cinema, Society,and Literature) concluded with Khoosat offering an optimistic outlook and praising recent Pakistani productions. While acknowledging progress, he also subtly criticised the growing trend of literary adaptations in Pakistani cinema. He reflected on recurring tropes in contemporary cinematic content and techniques, highlighting how films like Manto challenged conventional narrative structures and directorial styles, paving the way for innovation in storytelling and visual representation.

Day 2 of the event featured a diverse range of panel discussions on public interest, culture, education and literature. Among those, the most relevant and engaging was Urban Dialogue: The Karachi Katcheri, where the mayor of Karachi shared his vision for the city.

While his affection for the city remains unwavering, he did not shy away from acknowledging the challenges its citizens face. He emphasised that Karachi’s cosmopolitan nature, which embraces diversity and inclusivity, is the image he wishes to project – rather than fixating on the city’s shortcomings.

Among his key priorities, he said, was the establishment of sustainable municipal bodies, along with addressing the persistent negligence in providing basic rights to the public, such as access to clean water. He argued that if a balance is struck between demand and supply, it could significantly improve the way Karachi is perceived.

He also hinted at upcoming infrastructure development, particularly modifications to public spaces, which, he said, have the potential to transform the city’s landscape in a noticeable way.

Moving on, Waqas Khan’s A Man with a Pen was brought to spotlight by Naazish Ata Ullah. Arie Amaya-Akkermans, an art critic, writes about Khan’s motif, “His proposal, however modest, is not a reversal of the gigantism of contemporary art, but the intimate desire to seduce you into better and slower observation, at the risk of realising that the retinal experience is not optic alone, that there are many possibilities of bodily perception. In his work, organic existence rises between the human body and the world; they constitute each other through a pure consciousness which emanates out of both labour and miracle.”

His creativity has been extensively praised. The artist shared how the act of using a pen to unleash his ideas gradually became an organic process, where his pen almost gained the momentum of a dancer – attuned to his creativity.

The three-day intellectually and spiritually enriching experience of KLF 2025 concluded with the closing ceremony on February 9. Staying true to cultural tradition, the evening resonated with the lyrical transcendence of qawwali, filling the atmosphere with its timeless rhythm and soul-stirring melody.

The writer is a lecturer at the Department of English Language and Literature, Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore.