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The Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) is set to celebrate its tenth year this weekend. On Tuesday a press conference was held at the Karachi Arts Council to share details about the festival’s programme.

Oxford University Press (OUP) managing director Arshad Saeed Husain shared details of some of the key speakers and participants of the conference. “The focus of this year’s KLF is ‘tomorrow’ because we are forward-looking; we want to inspire the youth of tomorrow, and highlight the challenges and opportunities future generations face.”

With over 220 speakers from Pakistan, and 15 international speakers, this year’s KLF will have more than 80 sessions, and more than 20 book launches, he explained.

Deborah Baker, I.A. Rehman, Ishrat Husain and Iftikhar Arif are some of the noteworthy speakers at the KLF.

He also spoke about the advisory board comprising prominent writers, poets, literary figures who oversee the festival programming and selection of speakers, as well as curate the sessions.

Writer Attiya Dawood spoke about how Sindhi literature had always been given space at the KLF; she has been participating in the festival since the very early years of its inception, and was proud to be associated with it this year too. “Every year Sindhi literature is represented at the KLF through book launches and discussions,” she said.

Sheema Kermani spoke about her performance at the opening day of the KLF which will be based on the work of Fahmida Riaz.

Ghazi Salahuddin said that the KLF had consistently remained a thing of respect and pride for the city and its residents. “I have been associated with the KLF since the start, and through this we aim to improve the reading habits of the country which is an ongoing struggle for the prosperity of Pakistan.”

The trailer of short film Rani set to be premiered at the KLF was also shown at the press conference.

Other speakers included Azra Abbas, Ahmed Shah, and Kaiser Bengali.

Originally published in Dawn, February 27th, 2019