Written by: Haroon Shuaib
Posted on: 30 September 2019 | 
| 中文
(L to R) Haseena Moin, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Kishwar Naheed, Ghazanfar Hashmi, Irfan Ahmed Urfi (Photo credits to writer)
The Islamabad Literature Festival (ILF) took place in Islamabad’s charming Margalla Hotel over the weekend for intellectuals and literary enthusiasts alike. This three-day event was packed with almost two dozen hour-long sessions each day. Each talk attempted to highlight Pakistan’s strong literary traditions, and aimed to generate intellectual conversations between the audience and panellists. The bookstalls were well stocked with popular as well as obscure books, and it was heartening to see so much interest displayed by the visitors. Many food and drink stalls had also been set up for the convenience of the attendees.
Talks formally began on Day Two, with simultaneous panels across the hotel. “Naya Asloob, Nayee Aurat – New Trends, New Women”, focused on the feminist trends in the new age of Pakistani literature. In another hall, the discussion titled “Adding up the Energy Equation”, was an intellectual discourse on Pakistan’s looming energy challenges. The third simultaneous session was an homage to Iftikhar Arif, a living legend of Urdu poetry. The session was presided by Arif himself, and the biggest hall at the venue was filled to its capacity with the fans of his poetry. The discussion focused on his important contributions in the field of literature, as he has served as the head of Pakistan Academy of Letters, National Language Authority, and the National Book Foundation. He has also been the president of the ECO Cultural Institute in Tehran, and presently heads the National Language Promotion Department, National History and Literary Heritage Division in Islamabad. The highlight of this session was when he recited some of his most popular poems.
Book Stalls at ILF (Photo credits to writer)
A special fourth session to focus on a great writer of Urdu fiction, playwright, painter, and classically trained dancer Envar Sajjad, who passed away this year in June. His peers and protégées, each a master writer, talked at length about his genius as a creative soul who was far ahead of his time. The session was moderated by a prominent Urdu fiction writer Irfan Ahmed Urfi, and the panellists included notable names such as Asghar Nadeem Syed, Kishawar Naheed, Ghazanfar Hashmi, and Hasina Moeen, who had especially flown in from Karachi to take part in the literature festival.
The third set of sessions during the day included a discussion on “Teen Saltanaton ki Daastan”, an Urdu translation of a historical 14th century Chinese novel, considered to be one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, attributed to Luo Guanzhong. The novel is set in in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty, and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history. It has been translated by Zahoor Ahmed, who spoke about the social and cultural similarities between Pakistan and China. The Cultural Counsellor of the Peoples Republic of China, Zhang Heqing, also discussed the initiatives of the Embassy of China in Islamabad to strengthen the cultural ties between both the countries, with a special focus on exchange of literature from both countries through translations.
(L to R) Zhang Heqing, Zahoor Ahmed, Sharif Awan (Photo credits to writer)
Day 3 continued with more diverse talks. Jam-packed panels such as “Depicting Women in Literature and Drama”, and “Documenting Traditional Music in Pakistan”, outlined the evolution of literature and music throughout Pakistan’s history. Other talks such as “Satire in the Time of Tabdeeli”, and “Pakistani Cinema: The Rise and Fall, and…The Rise Again?”, discussed how Pakistani pop culture moves forward with the changing face of an increasingly modernizing Pakistani society. Day 3 of ILF also saw book launches, including non-fiction works such as “The Fix”, written by Omar Shahid Hamid and “Widows and Daughters: Gender, Kinship and Power in South Asia”, by Anna Suvorova.
Usman Mukhtar (L) and Humayun Saeed (R) (Photo credits to Instagram)
There were other dialogue sessions during the last day of ILF, which discussed current issues that the country has been tackling, from achieving peace in a nuclear charged environment to issues of economic reform. These included talks by Affrasiab Khattak, Asad Umer, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri and Sania Nishter. The event ended with Keynote Speeches by Ishrat Hussain and Anwar Maqsood, while the Managing Director of Oxford University Press, Pakistan and the Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training, National History, and Literary Heritage, Mr. Shafqat Mahmood also said a few words.
Omar Shahid Hamid (L) and Nadeem Farooq Paracha (R) (Photo credits to Electronic Diary)
While Day 1 ended with a panel on Kashmir, and “Indus Blues”, the documentary on indigenous instruments of Pakistan, days 2 and 3 ended with a mushaira, in English and Urdu respectively. Prominent poets of the country such as Iftikhar Arif, Najeeba Arif, Ahmad Atta, Akhtar Usman, Ali Zaryoun, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Ayub Khawar, Farrukh Yar, Ghazanfar Hashmi, Hamid Ateeq Sarwar, Harris Khalique, Hasan Abbas Raza, Kishwar Naheed, Mehboob Zafar, Ravish Nadeem, Syed Kashif Raza, and Yasmeen Hameed recited their latest poetry, which the audience applauded generously.
ILF set out to create a space for diverse and pluralistic discussion about issues facing Pakistani society. The attendees and the panellists appreciated Oxford University Press for keeping the tradition of this annual literature festival alive in the capital for the sixth year running.
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