Date: 23 - 24 February 2013
The Lahore Literary Festival explores the dialogue and interface between conventional literature and other arts, milieus, and society in pursuit of literature's subliminal power to improve our social, academic, cultural, and even political, frameworks. The aim of the Festival is to bring together, discuss and celebrate the diverse and pluralistic literary tradition that distinguishes Lahore as a city of arts, activism, and generally, of big ideas. This was the picture, pre-1947, and continues to resonate in the post-colonial Lahore with its cultural and literary footprint across greater Punjab, the Indus region, and South Asia.
Nothing demonstrates this better than the classic appeal of Lahore’s cosmopolitanism that stretches millennia from being a ‘global city’ under the Sultanate in the twelfth century, to becoming the capital of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, and being the cradle of Punjabi civilization under Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Lahore the city has also fired the imagination of global literature and thought, theater and film, from Milton’s Paradise Lost to Kipling’s Kim, Massenet’s Opera Le Roi de Lahore and John Masters’ Bhowani Junction. This coupled with Lahore’s pre-eminence in birthing new ideas, poetry and prose, manifestos and movements, makes Lahore a vital node in the public imagination, and indeed, a befitting site for a literary festival.
With a focus on ‘Literature’ as encompassing a variety of genres—from fiction writing, to history, politics, art, architecture, culture, and music—the aim of the Festival is to reclaim and employ Lahore’s rich and varied literary tradition.
2013 PROGRAM
FEBRUARY 23: DAY 1
Lahore in Literature
Time: 9:30 am- 10:30 am
Venue: Hall II
Panelists: Bapsi Sidhwa, Intizar Hussain, Majid Sheikh, Pran Nevile
Moderator: Rafay Alam
Literature of Resistance
Time: 10:45-11:45 am
Venue: Venue II
Panelists: Basharat Peer, Lyse Doucet, Mohammed Hanif, Selma Dabbagh
Moderator: Ali Dayan Hasan
Zehra Nigah on Poetry and Translation
Time: 12:00 am -1:00 pm
Venue: Hall I
Zehra Nigah in conversation with Intizar Hussain and Samina Rahman
Globalization of Pakistan’s Literature
Time: 2:00 pm-3:00 pm
Venue: Hall I
Panelists: Chiki Sarkar, Daniyal Mueenuddin, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, Shazaf F. Haider,
Moderator: Aysha Raja
Writing Daughter of the East
Legacy of political autobiographies
Time: 2:00 pm-3:00 pm
Venue: Hall III
Linda Bird Francke in conversation with Victoria Schofield
The Courtesan in Literature: Umrao Jan to Gohar Jan
Time: 4:30-5:30 pm
Venue: Hall I
Panelists: Afzal Ahmed Syed, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, and Navid Shahzad
Moderator: Mira Hashmi
FEBRUARY 24: DAY 2
Future of Urdu Literature in the Punjab
Time: 9:30-10:30 am
Venue: Hall II
Panelists: Ata-ul-Haq Qasmi, Intizar Hussain, Asghar Nadeem Syed,Tehseen Firaq
Moderator: Ali Usman Qasmi
Women Voices: From colonial times to modern Pakistan, making English Writing their own
Time: 9:30-10:30 am
Venue: Hall III
Muneeza Shamsie in conversation with Faiza Sultan Khan
Children's Literature Today
Time: 10:45-11:45 am
Venue: Outdoors
Panelists: Baela Jamil, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, and Nina Fite
Moderator: Afia Aslam
Narrative Forms in Urdu Fiction and Poetry
Time: 12 pm- 1pm
Venue: Hall II
Panelists: Afzal Ahmed Syed, Ali Akbar Natiq, Khalid Toor, Musharraf Ali Farooqi
Moderator: Ali Madeeh Hashmi
Translation of Faiz
Mahmood Jamal in conversation with Raza Rumi
Time: 12 pm- 1pm
Venue: Hall III
Discovering Pakistani English Poetry
Analysing the relative success of Pakistani English Prose to Poetry
Time: 3:15-4:15 pm
Venue: Hall II
Panelists: Athar Tahir, Henna Babar Ali, Khaled Ahmed, Navid Shahzad, Samina Rahman
Moderator: Ahmed Rashid
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries: info@lahorelitfest.com
Website: http://www.lahorelitfest.com
The Lahore Literary Festival explores the dialogue and interface between conventional literature and other arts, milieus, and society in pursuit of literature's subliminal power to improve our social, academic, cultural, and even political, frameworks. The aim of the Festival is to bring together, discuss and celebrate the diverse and pluralistic literary tradition that distinguishes Lahore as a city of arts, activism, and generally, of big ideas. This was the picture, pre-1947, and continues to resonate in the post-colonial Lahore with its cultural and literary footprint across greater Punjab, the Indus region, and South Asia.
Nothing demonstrates this better than the classic appeal of Lahore’s cosmopolitanism that stretches millennia from being a ‘global city’ under the Sultanate in the twelfth century, to becoming the capital of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Akbar, and being the cradle of Punjabi civilization under Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Lahore the city has also fired the imagination of global literature and thought, theater and film, from Milton’s Paradise Lost to Kipling’s Kim, Massenet’s Opera Le Roi de Lahore and John Masters’ Bhowani Junction. This coupled with Lahore’s pre-eminence in birthing new ideas, poetry and prose, manifestos and movements, makes Lahore a vital node in the public imagination, and indeed, a befitting site for a literary festival.
With a focus on ‘Literature’ as encompassing a variety of genres—from fiction writing, to history, politics, art, architecture, culture, and music—the aim of the Festival is to reclaim and employ Lahore’s rich and varied literary tradition.
2013 PROGRAM
FEBRUARY 23: DAY 1
Lahore in Literature
Time: 9:30 am- 10:30 am
Venue: Hall II
Panelists: Bapsi Sidhwa, Intizar Hussain, Majid Sheikh, Pran Nevile
Moderator: Rafay Alam
Literature of Resistance
Time: 10:45-11:45 am
Venue: Venue II
Panelists: Basharat Peer, Lyse Doucet, Mohammed Hanif, Selma Dabbagh
Moderator: Ali Dayan Hasan
Zehra Nigah on Poetry and Translation
Time: 12:00 am -1:00 pm
Venue: Hall I
Zehra Nigah in conversation with Intizar Hussain and Samina Rahman
Globalization of Pakistan’s Literature
Time: 2:00 pm-3:00 pm
Venue: Hall I
Panelists: Chiki Sarkar, Daniyal Mueenuddin, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, Shazaf F. Haider,
Moderator: Aysha Raja
Writing Daughter of the East
Legacy of political autobiographies
Time: 2:00 pm-3:00 pm
Venue: Hall III
Linda Bird Francke in conversation with Victoria Schofield
The Courtesan in Literature: Umrao Jan to Gohar Jan
Time: 4:30-5:30 pm
Venue: Hall I
Panelists: Afzal Ahmed Syed, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, and Navid Shahzad
Moderator: Mira Hashmi
FEBRUARY 24: DAY 2
Future of Urdu Literature in the Punjab
Time: 9:30-10:30 am
Venue: Hall II
Panelists: Ata-ul-Haq Qasmi, Intizar Hussain, Asghar Nadeem Syed,Tehseen Firaq
Moderator: Ali Usman Qasmi
Women Voices: From colonial times to modern Pakistan, making English Writing their own
Time: 9:30-10:30 am
Venue: Hall III
Muneeza Shamsie in conversation with Faiza Sultan Khan
Children's Literature Today
Time: 10:45-11:45 am
Venue: Outdoors
Panelists: Baela Jamil, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, and Nina Fite
Moderator: Afia Aslam
Narrative Forms in Urdu Fiction and Poetry
Time: 12 pm- 1pm
Venue: Hall II
Panelists: Afzal Ahmed Syed, Ali Akbar Natiq, Khalid Toor, Musharraf Ali Farooqi
Moderator: Ali Madeeh Hashmi
Translation of Faiz
Mahmood Jamal in conversation with Raza Rumi
Time: 12 pm- 1pm
Venue: Hall III
Discovering Pakistani English Poetry
Analysing the relative success of Pakistani English Prose to Poetry
Time: 3:15-4:15 pm
Venue: Hall II
Panelists: Athar Tahir, Henna Babar Ali, Khaled Ahmed, Navid Shahzad, Samina Rahman
Moderator: Ahmed Rashid
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries: info@lahorelitfest.com
Website: http://www.lahorelitfest.com
