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The press conference to announce the 10th Adab Festival, to take place between Nov 22 and 23, at Karachi’s Habitt City on Friday, was more than just a curtain-raiser. It was, as jokingly pointed out by Ameena Saiyid, the festival’s founder and director, a reminder of the courage and resilience of a woman who launched a start-up in her seventies. Also, those who stood by her every step of the way, her friend, the late writer and translator Asif Farrukhi and her late husband, Aamer Aziz Saiyid, were not forgotten.

This will be the first Adab Festival without Aamer, who never missed a festival organised by his better half, be it this or the Karachi Literature Festival, which was also started by Ameena. For the record, this is not the 10th year of the Adad Festival, but rather its 10th edition, as they have held more than one festival in a single year.

While providing an overview of this year’s festival, Ameena said that entry, as always, will be free and throughout the two days of the event, they will have simultaneous sessions in various languages, including local languages such as Sindhi, Punjabi, Seraiki, Balochi, Pashto and Burushaski, which is spoken in Gilgit-Baltistan. Plus, there will be book launches, panel discussions and mushairas at different parts of the venue.

As in the past, the Adab Festival’s carefully curated programme will feature an impressive range of diverse speakers including Zehra Nigah, Kishwer Naheed, Shandana Minhas, Noorul Huda Shah, Farhatullah Babar, Mian Raza Rabbani, Kashif Raza, Ziad Zafar, Peerzada Salman, Nadeem Farooq Paracha, Bina Shah, Amin Gulgee, Dr Faisal Mushtaq, Sultana Siddiqui, Mahtab Akbar Rashdi, Sharmila Faruqui, Shazia Marri, retired General Moinuddin Hyder, Dr Mohammad Ali Shaikh, Shabbar Zaidi, Syed Salim Raza, Saif Samejo, Salma Alam, Omayr Aziz Saiyid, Nadia Naqi, Fazil Jamili, Mazhar Abbas, Azhar Abbas, Naila Mahmood, Omar Shahid Hamid, Safinah Danish Elahi, Dr Huma Baqai and more.

All notable recently published books will be discussed. The Adab Festival/Infaq Foundation Awards will also be announced, recognising outstanding writings in Urdu, English, and Sindhi.

Moreover, there will be music and entertainment, a creative writing workshop for kids aged 12 to 18 by the young author Taha Kehar, and much more. Atif Badar will hold a session for young children, award-winning investigative journalist Ziad Zafar will hold a session for journalists, actors Khaled Anam, Misbah Khalid, Junaid Khan and Arshad Mahmood will be focusing on drama and music and senior journalist Sumera Saeed Naqvi will do a book talk in view of her recently published translation of her grandfather Syed Mohammad Taqi’s book Karbala, Tehzeeb ka Mustaqbil titled The Future of Civilization where she will discuss the burning issues of our society.

Actor, writer and translator Shama Askari; Arts Programme Coordinator at the British Council, Khadija Hussaini and lawyer Waheed Noor were among the many guests who also spoke at the press conference.

Originally published in Dawn, November 8th, 2025 Cover photo by Fahim Siddiqi / White Star