The annual three-day Lahore Literary Festival kicks off on Friday, Feb 20.
The festival’s third edition will feature thought-provoking panel discussions with some of the most insightful voices in the arts and literature, book launches and signings, poetry recitals, musical performances, and art exhibits.
With over 100 tantalizing thinkers from home and abroad—including Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Palestine, the US, the UK, Colombia, Australia—LLF, which celebrates the best of Lahore’s rich and storied cultural traditions, will provide audiences with a stimulating array of ideas and intellectual inquiry.
While the majority of sessions will be conducted in English, audiences will also have the choice of attending discussions in Urdu and Punjabi. The session with writers and poets from Bahawalpur and neighbouring cities will be conducted in Seraiki.
Some of this year’s exciting highlights include the launch of author Mohsin Hamid’s Civilization and its Discontents and artist-educator Salima Hashmi’s The Eye Still Seeks, discussions with Pakistani-American author Zulfikar Ghose on his seminal 1967 book, The Murder of Aziz Khan, and Peter Oborne on Wounded Tiger, his book on Pakistani cricket.
The full schedule for LLF 2015 will be made public a week prior to the event.
Some 50,000 people attended LLF 2014, which featured, among others, Ahmed Rashid, Ayesha Jalal, F. S. Aijazuddin, Fahmida Riaz, Hugh Eakin, Intizar Hussain, K. Anis Ahmed, Kamila Shamsie, Manju Kapur, Mira Nair, Mishal Husain, Mohammed Hanif, Muneeza Shamsie, Nahid Siddiqui, Naman Ahuja, Omar Shahid Hamid, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Pran Nevile, Rashid Rana, Razia Iqbal, Shahzia Sikander, Sherry Rehman, Shobhaa Dé, Shrabani Basu, Tehmina Durrani, Vali Nasr, Vikram Seth, Zehra Nigah, Zia Mohyeddin.
