While one was jumping with joy at the prospect of covering and taking part in this year’s Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) on March 4, 5 and 6 primarily because after last year’s homebound and digital activities one wanted to experience the atmosphere and the buzz created by the presence of eminent authors and their countless readers, it was saddening to note that something was amiss. It is hard to pinpoint what that thing was, but there were surely a few things, if not more than a few, that were atypical… not in a good way.

For starters, the first day writers and poets — and we all know the stature of some of them — had to go through a strict security check because the president was the chief guest on the occasion. The organisers of the event didn’t announce his name at the press conference held to introduce the sessions and speakers for 2022. Security checks are important, make no mistake. But the festival is essentially a literary activity meant to acquaint and befriend the readers with their favourite authors, and to have thought-provoking discussions on literature and literary trends. This example, call it precedent, was set in the very first edition of the event in 2010 at Carlton Hotel.

Who were the guest speakers in 2010? Bapsi Sidhwa, Shamsur Rehman Farooqi, Aamer Hussein, Fehmida Riaz, Intizar Husain, Mohammed Hanif, Sarfaraz Manzoor, Sunil Sethi, Iftikhar Arif, Zulfikar Ghose and Sadia Shepherd. What is the one thing common in them? They write books. Similarly, in the second edition, Karen Armstrong, Mohsin Hamid and Ahmed Rashid took part in discussions, not to mention Shobha De, Alex von Tunzelmann and William Dalrymple addressing book readers the same or the following year. Yes, from the second year of the festival’s birth, guftugu on subjects other than literature began to happen; still, their ratio was not a big one. The point here is: the KLF is first and foremost a literary affair.

What happened on the concluding day of the 13th KLF, the absence of two keynote speakers — Hanif Kureishi and Sardar Masood Khan — also goes to show that the organisers, arguably, have become complacent about the whole exercise. Kureishi was at the venue for three days. An eyewitness account suggests a little before he was required to appear on stage, he was seen with someone around the food court. This can be disputed, though.

The festival has become one of the most important cultural markers of the country (repeat: cultural), which is why those who arrange it on an annual basis need to be extra careful with how they go about their business and who they invite. As to who they invite, here’s a small suggestion: they need to rope in individuals as advisers that keep themselves abreast of the latest developments in contemporary world literature, not just literature coming out of Pakistan.

One of the frequent comments one gets to read on social media is about the repetitiveness of topics and guests. Also, it does look and sound a bit odd when corporate execs try to wax eloquent on adab and its importance. Just a bit. Not that they can’t, they certainly can.

There is a phrase in the English language, ‘horses for courses’.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2022