Habib University’s Araaish e Khayal Club hosted its first-ever literature festival on November 22, 2019. The name for the festival, Sareer e Khama, literally translates into the sound of a pen and the word is derived from Mirza Ghalib’s poetry.
This event provided a platform for students and academics to promote our literary heritage and cultural roots through an evening with distinguished authors, artists and fellow creative persons. The club’s aim to express, share, and promote Urdu literature was manifested, and extended, in the festival’s incorporation of literature produced in various languages to encompass the interests of all literary enthusiasts.
This student-led initiative featured creative personalities from different walks of life; from within the Habib community and outside, engaging in intellectually stimulating discourses and connecting with literature. The students and alumni of Habib University curated these insightful discussions.
Gatherings for the event were held on many locations at the Habib University campus including the lecture hall, classrooms, and the H.M Habib Auditorium with a turnout of over 250 people.
The opening ceremony consisted of speeches from Araaish e Khayal’s President Sarah Khan and the club patron Mr. Asif Farrukhi, and a keynote address by guest of honor, Dr. Nauman Naqvi.
The festival had nine different panels, inclusive of different artists and authors, ranging from Urdu-based panels such as Urdu Shayari Ke Badalte Rujhanat and Urdu Adab aur Gussay ki Nayi Fasl to a discussion around power and literature titled, “The pen is truly mightier than the sword”. Other panels included Science Fiction and Utopias, Inheriting the Future: The Importance of Inheritance for the Present and the Future, Empowered Women Empower Women, Drama Mashra aur Haqiqat, and Ecology, Energy, Economy.
Some of the prominent figures at the event included lawyer and political activist, Mr. Jibran Nasir – who curated a discussion on Youth in Action -as well as Urdu novelist, Zahida Hina, and Dramatist Haseena Moin.