The third annual Lahore Literary Festival (LLF) will take place as scheduled on February 20, 21, and 22 at the Alhamra Arts Centre, festival organizers said Tuesday.
“We are bereaved over the loss of 10 innocent lives from Tuesday’s attack outside a police facility in Lahore,” said LLF Advisory Board President Nusrat Jamil. “But as we strive for respectful normalcy, we will also vigilantly ensure and maintain all necessary arrangements for audiences attending the festival,” she said, adding that there were no plans to cancel or curtail any of the scheduled discussions at three-day event.
LLF, Lahore’s largest annual cultural gathering, has the support of the Punjab and City District governments. The third edition of the festival starts this weekend, and Jamil said it will “uphold the spirit of LLF by promoting civilized debate and discussion between peoples and cultures in this globalizing world.”
Several foreign delegates scheduled to speak at LLF 2015 have expressed solidarity with Lahore after the Tuesday attack. Aminatta Forna, author of The Hired Man, tweeted: “Bomb blast in Lahore; still headed to the Lahore Lit Fest this week. Keep calm and carry on. ;)”
This year’s festival includes sessions in English, Urdu, Punjabi, and Seraiki and features several local and foreign luminaries, including Intizar Husain, Romila Thapar, M Asaduddin, I A Rehman, Romesh Gunesekera, Deborah Baker, Abdullah Hussein, Noorjehan Bilgrami, Naresh Fernandes, Laila Bokhari.
LLF is a free, open-to-public event.
