Daily Times

“Any creative work of the past, be it sculpture, painting, music, drama, poetry, or architecture, which stimulates the depth of our imagination is classic. And so, I find the Pantheon and the Stupa at Sanchi and Milton’s Paradise Lost and the poetry of Ghalib and many other words of prose and poetry to be classic,” were the thoughts of Zia Mohyeddin that he shared during his keynote speech during the inaugural session of the 13th Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) 2022.

He explored how a nation’s vitality is gauged only when its cultural activities come to the fore.

A galaxy of literary icons from Pakistan and abroad added charm to the inaugural session of KLF 2022. Last year, the event was held online because of the pandemic. This year, however, the event returns with its traditional hustle and mighty bustle that it is known for. With beaming faces of readers, pleasing smiles of panellists, and excitement glowing over the organizers’ faces, KLF 2022 was officially launched with this year’s theme titled “Separation, Belonging and Beyond: 75 years of Pakistan.”

While presenting an introduction to the festival, Arshad Saeed Husain, Managing Director, Oxford University Press (OUP), Pakistan said that “This annual event brings together intellectuals from across the world and emerging writers from a variety of fields. It is a rare opportunity for literary enthusiasts to meet their favourite writers.” He added that this event bridge distances between cultures and languages.

The three-day KLF-2022 will be an emotional ride as it will explore Pakistan’s journey during its 75-years through various panel discussions and book launches. Over 60 sessions including twenty book launches are scheduled. Speakers from Pakistan, the UK, US, New Zealand, and France will be sharing their insights along with feature film screening, English poetry readings and qawwali.

Moreover, during the first day, Dramatic Readings of Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi’s Haweli was held where the prose was recited by Fawad Khan, Meesam Naqvi and Nazrul Hasan. The Dastangoi fashion was revived in this session that amused the audiences.

A session celebrating 75 years of Urdu poetry was also held. Iftikhar Arif, Zehra Nigah, Kishwar Naheed, Nasir Abbas Nayyar shared their views in a session moderated by Najeeba Arif. The distinguished panellists discussed the developments in Urdu in Pakistan during the last seventy-five years. It explored various facets of Urdu and how it connects at different levels with our culture and society.

An interesting session titled “Fulfilling Jinnah’s vision” was held that discussed Pakistan’s history, present, and future. Javed Jabbar, Ian Talbot, Nasira Iqbal, and Arfa Sayeda Zehra were the panelists while Syed Jaffar Ahmed served as the moderator. This session explored the vision that Quaid-e-Azam had for Pakistan and how it was pursued after his passing away. The first day ended with the traditional session of English poetry where poets including Alyana Khan, Fatima Ijaz, Harris Khalique, Jeeva Haroun, Minaa Shahzad, Moeen Faruqi, Peerzada Salman, Salena Godden, Sateah Afreedi, Shireen Haroun, and Zarmina Raza shared their pieces. The moderator was Salman Tarik Kureshi.

Awards and accolades are a part of the KLF 2022 tradition. The 2022 KLF – Getz Pharma award recipients were Little America by Zain Saeed, Asim Bakhshi, Saleem Kausar.

The writer is an independent researcher, author and columnist. He can be reached at omariftikhar@hotmail.com and Tweets at @omariftikhar