07:00 pm
That’s it from the Lahore Literary Festival. Another day full of packed halls, stimulating discussions and literature lovers mingling with their favourite authors. Ayesha Jalal spoke about Manto’s relevance in today’s society, while Mohsin Hamid discussed his new book, Ahmed Rashid and William Dalrymple talked about Afghanistan and Pakistan post withdrawal of the US forces and Tehmina Durrani discussed her journey as a writer and the response she received after ‘My Feudal Lord’.
Lahore’s first literary festival wraps up with a performance by Laal, thank you for keeping up with our coverage!
One of the most inspiring weekends I've had in Lahore. #LLF—
Salman Chaudhri (@salmanchaudhri) February 24, 2013
06:30 pm
Culture in Conflict
The last session was a talk between William Dalrymple and Ahmed Rashid. – Photo by Tabinda Siddiqi/Dawn.com
“People’s emotions are integral in their motives when it comes to war.” - William Dalrymple
“History is boring for the youth, but if the narrative includes expression of the people and a storytelling style, it can be made interesting.” - William Dalrymple
Ppl outside the hall for William Dalrymple's con with Ahmed Rashid http://t.co/l7suf3VEXH—
Afshan Khan (@Kinnylala) February 24, 2013
05:05 pm
The tomb in Mughal architecture
Panelists Kamil K. Mumtaz, Nayyar Ali Dada and Ebba Koch.
In the session on architecture of aesthetics and urbanism, the discussion veered from Mughal architecture to contemporary architecture in Pakistan. The panelists discussed that historically Hindus considered that building of tombs was not right as did Muslim clerics who opposed their Mughal emperors’ wishes of raising large domed structured over the dead. However, contrary to those beliefs, some believed that eight corners symbolize closeness to God and four to eight corners symbolize the stages of heaven.Differing shapes of tombs had different meanings and the buildings are the evidence. Shah Jehan called them mute tongues that convey evidence. The panelists agreed that Mughal opulence in architecture is evidence of their desire to show themselves as the new Brahmins.
Akbar’s tomb is open to the blessings of the clouds and it is completely different to Humayun’s and architects were the few men Mughals considered had superior knowledge. –Text by Faraz Khan
04:45 pm
Beyond Veil
Tehmina Durrani spoke about her life and work.
Beyond veil is a journey into the various phases and aspects of the life of Tehmina Durrani, the writer of the most controversial book “My Feudal Lord”. The crowd at the Lahore Literary festival was so excited to meet the writer twelve years after her last published book that there were long cues outside the doors of the Alhamra Hall.
Conversing with Shahid Zahid, Tehmina expressed that “I couldn’t have written My Feudal Lord but it was because of the injustice,my reality was different to what I was supposed to be.” She explained that it was
painful to bear the consequences of the book when even her own parents disowned her for thirty years. Talking about the changing times said that “I find new generation very open to my book today which is a sign of acceptability”.
She discussed the idea behind her new book “Happy Thing in Sorrow Times” being launched next month with her own illustrations. The book focuses on the effects of the recent times on the mind of a young child. She also revealed another form of expression will be made public soon through an exhibition of her paintings titled “Love Affair”.
While discussing her book Blasphemy she said: “To me blasphemy is to distort the words of Holy Quran and the words of he Prophet (P.B.U.H)”. She added blasphemy is a true story based on the life of a
woman who is suffering at the hands of the society and she lacks to ability to fight for her right. Though this one was in contradiction to “My Feudal lord” she said to become something everyone has to go through a process. Discussing another book on the life of Edhi “A Mirror to the Blind” she praised the struggle of Mr. Edhi and his wife who started off with selling pencils on roads but ended up owning a service across the country. Tehmina emphasized that I haven’t seen many men who are proud of their wives like Mr. Edhi. -Text by Maryiam Pervaiz
“I find the new generation very open to ‘My Feudal Lord’. I can see change in the form of acceptance comapred to the past when even my parents disowned me for 30 years. -Tehmina Durrani
04:30 pm
Literary Bytes: Lit fests in South Asia
William Dalrymple compares the Karachi, Lahore and Jaipur literature festivals.
Packed house but high saccharin content at Tehmina Durrani session. #LLF—
Declan Walsh (@declanwalsh) February 24, 2013
Lahore lit fest had a very different feel to Karachi. Both excellent and I for one am convinced there's room enough for both #llf #klf—
Rob Crilly (@robcrilly) February 24, 2013
03:30 pm
The story of Begum Hazrat Mahal
Rashid Rahman with Kenzie Mourad. -Photo by Sara Faruqi/Dawn.com
03:00 pm
Writing ‘Daughter of the East’
Linda Bird Francke in conversation with Victoria Schofield (L). -Photo by Sara Faruqi/Dawn.com
Writer Linda Bird Frackle spent 10 years with Benazir Bhutto and the book she wrote was about the kind of relationship she shared with the former prime minister of Pakistan. She has also written about the male dominated society as seen through Benazir’s eyes and the relationship she had with her brothers and why that relationship was affected. She also described Bhutto’s spiritual side and the factors which influenced her personality.
Frackle was nostalgic while sharing her experiences and said Benazir had a very powerful personality and was very sensitive towards women’s issues. -Text by Maryiam Pervaiz
02:45 pm
How to get filthy rich in rising Asia
Moshin Hamid reads from his upcoming book. – Photo by Sara Faruqi/Dawn.com
The crowds were jam packed to see Mohsin Hamid. – Photo by Sara Faruqi/Dawn .com
“If you have no money in Pakistan, you will die.” - Mohsin Hamid
“There are yellow balloons outside, I wish there were yellow kites instead.” - Mohsin Hamid
“As a writer I’m nervous about reading what other people write about me.” – Mohsin Hamid
#LLF2013 #LLF "Rs 130 ki biryani? Mein ja ker Mohammad Hanif ki Nayi kitaab na khareed lu?" Overheard at #LLF2013 foodcourt—
Chachi Chatters (@ChachiChatters) February 24, 2013
12:30 pm
On Manto
Ali Sethi with Ayesha Jalal.
Quite fittingly, the speaker on the session about Manto was his grand-niece Ayesha Jalal, with Ali Sethi who was the moderator. Jalal said Manto had never written about things he had not experienced adding that with Manto’s writing, the narrative was more than just contemporary – it was about human nature.
The discussion went on to Manto’s sketches and the panelists discussed how his art captured the cosmopolitanism of Bombay, how real it was prior to the bloodbath and how those friendships survived those times especially with his friend Shaym.
Jalal said that Manto would have been a great and honoured writer had partition not happened. She added that the fact he was the best witness to partition had to be acknowledged and that it gave him an opportunity to excel in his skills as a writer. In an answer to a question from the audience, Jalal said the one word she would use to describe Manto was ‘genius’, adding that he had been afraid Saadat Hasan would die but as he had predicted, Manto had lived on. –Text by Faraz Khan
“I really think Manto has not been translated adequately yet.” - Ayesha Jalal
#LLF2013 #LLF "Rs 130 ki biryani? Mein ja ker Mohammad Hanif ki Nayi kitaab na khareed lu?" Overheard at #LLF2013 foodcourt—
Chachi Chatters (@ChachiChatters) February 24, 2013
"How would u translate "paa bajoolaan chalo" by Faiz in English?? U need to read Faiz in Urdu if u really want to understand him. #LLF—
Ajmal Jami (@ajmaljami) February 24, 2013
12:00 am
Women’s voices
Faiza Khan with Muneeza Shamsie.
Women’s Voices by Muneeza Shamsi with Faiza S.Khan was an interesting debate on the difference between the writing styles of men and women when it comes to writing on the issues of women. The speakers believed that gender bias is quite evident in the writing of our local fiction writers as most of them are men. The journey of Pakistani fiction writers was discussed in detail and Shamsi agreed to the fact that Urdu fiction writing is far more stronger in Pakistan as compared to English writing. She stated that writers like Fehmida Riaz and Rashed Jehan bowled out the English fiction writers completely in the past but today writers like Moni Mohsin, Kamila Shamsi have made a mark in this industry. Muneeza complained that English fiction writers were restricted to follow a subtle modern style of writing. The style of local fiction writers was compared to international writers like Charlotte Bronte and Jane Eyre. Analysts discussed the issues highlighted by the local fiction writers which are mostly domestic in nature, about romance and depiction of strong women whereas there is a contradiction of women being represented in dramas these days when compared to their roles in the books written by modern writers. –Text by Maryiam Pervaiz
#LLF #LLF2013 Ayesha Jalal is animated and so excited to engage with young kids. She knows how to convince.—
Chachi Chatters (@ChachiChatters) February 24, 2013
11:30 am
Another day of packed sessions at the Lahore Literary Festival. -Photo by Tabinda Siddiqi/Dawn.com
Volunteers at the Lahore Literary Festival. From left to right: Jannat Mazari, Fawaz Naeem, Zaeimuddin, Aqib Sherwani, Hamza Arshad, Saad Farrukh and Usman Alavi.
11:15 am
Narrative forms in Urdu fiction and poetry
Afzal Ahmed Syed, Ali Akbar Natiq, Khalid Toor, and Musharraf Ali Farooqi. -Photo by Tabinda Siddiqi/Dawn.com
11:10 am
Out of it: Conversation with Salma Dabbagh
Aysha Raja with Salma Dabbagh. -Photo by Tabinda Siddiqi/Dawn.com
11:00 am
Commonwealth, nationalism and globalisation
Muneeza Shamsie, Moni Mohsin, Jeet Thayil, Nadeem Aslam, Shehan Karunatilaka. -Photo by Tabinda Siddiqi/Dawn.com
“Given my social background, I would not have been a writer had I stayed in Pakistan.” - Nadeem Aslam
“Indian poets writing in English get more criticism than Indian novelists writing in English.” - Jeet Thayil
10:45 am
Future of Urdu literature in Punjab
Intizar Hussain talking about Urdu literature in Punjab. -Photo by Tabinda Siddiqi/Dawn.com
10:30 am
Missing stories
Mohammed Hanif with IA Rehman. -Photo by Tabinda Siddiqi/Dawn.com
10:15 am
Greetings from day two of the Lahore Literary Festival. The sun is out and it is a gorgeous Sunday morning with people trickling in for another day of discussions on literature, mingling with authors and more. Keep up with our coverage as we bring you the highlights from the day including pictures, videos, quotes and more.
I hope to see more literary artists from my country, India, at the LLF in future.
Where are the Karachi Literary Festival reports and photographs ?
I have been searching your columns for details of Tariq Ali speech and the conversation between William Dalrymple and Ahmed Rashid with no success. Whats gone wrong?
Wrong info here “Manto was his grand-niece Ayesha Jalal ”
Her father Hamid Jalal is a brother of Mrs Manto. She is bhateejee of Mrs Manto and not grand-neice
The conversation with Bapsi Sidhwa was a real treat. She is a great writer of immense wit, intellegince and satire.She made the evening sparkling with a sprinkle of her bold and frank remarks here and there. Her nostalgic love affair with Lahore came as fresh air. Her talk was so intoxicating and full of sheer power of happiness and love that it touched the minds and souls of all literature lovers and the novices like us alike. It was spell of nostalgia, a trace of humanity and hope for future. Bravo Bapsi, bravo dawn for this wonderful event. Please keep it up for a generation torn between the black spell of hypocricy and dogma.
Why and how could dawn skip the converstaion with Bapsi Sidhwa, the last finishing stroke to memorable and most inpirational thing that could happen not just to EL loverers but to the Lahorites in general. It was a gem of a discussion with occational splashing of witty remarks by the author, her bold and frank style, her intoxicating love for Lahore, a complex mixture of wit, intelligence and satire. The graceful mention of her early days and the sweat and toil on the road to become a world acclaimed writer were the things which made it worthwile evening. Bravo LLF 2013.Please keep it up. It is about time we gave create some more space for such bold events in a society marred by hypocricy and dogma.
Beautiful events – and after a long, long time, we all saw Lahore at its supreme prime! Kudos to the organisers and the speakers for keeping the audience completely enthalled and hungry for more for a full 2 days!!!
It’s so nice to know tht Pakistan still has a soft side to it I hope next time the festival is in Islamabad I would love to go to an event of this stature
A welcome surprise for Lahories.We are starved of such literary festivals. All the praise for the oeganizers and literary elite for making it a success. WE need more of the same. WE learned first hand from the writers like Tahimina Durrani about her life after My Feudal lord punlication. She shared her experiece with the participants. Other voices also did justice to their stories. Over all it was well recieved programme. Tariq Ali stood out with his comments in his speech.
WE appreciate Alhamra Art Cpuncil for the literary activity. Keep it up WE need such programmes for our sanity inan atmosphere of terror and fear.
Well done!
Why no one thought of inviting Prof. Altaf Fatima, novelist, short-story writer, broadcaster, and translator, who has always been in Lahore, and still swriting?
Dawn should not have mistaken Rashid Rehman’s name in ‘missing stories’ photo instead of Mr. IA Rehman who graciously moderated the talk when Rashid was unable to turn up in time.
I am forwarding the link to all my friends from my Urdu class Tehseen e ghazal. I want to share with them this beautiful reporting about the LLF. The literary ferment that I note and the packed halls and the (Yes) Women’s shoes tell a Story all by themselves. Great Show and a Grand one at that. Congratulations LLF.
atleast something positive for the cultural hub to explore… it was refreshing, the first talk by tariq ali was impressive the second (panel discussion) had something missing in it, however ayesha jalal impressed me with her views on religion and its role in providing a structure for the state…
very nice and refreshing festival, in the true literal sense