PESHAWAR: The first edition of Peshawar Literature Festival will start at the Institute of Education and Research (IER), University of Peshawar, here on Tuesday.

A statement issued here said that the event would take place from May 24 to 26.

The event is being organised by the Dosti Welfare Organisation in collaboration with the IER, Community Service Programme and Department of History. A large number of lovers of literature, arts and culture are expected to visit the festival.

Academics, poets, researchers and writers from across the province and other parts of the country will participate in the three-day festival, which will explore the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s history, culture and heritage through a contemporary lens.

The event will feature panel discussions, book launches, author talks

The event will feature about 44 panel discussions, book launches and author talks by renowned academics, writers and literary personalities.

Prominent historian Dr Sayed Wiqar Ali Shah will be the keynote speaker at the event and deliver an address on the origins and role of monthly Pakhtun magazine, which was founded by Bacha Khan to spread awareness among the Pakhtuns in 1928.

“For the first time in Peshawar, people will experience a literature festival through 44 sessions and 120-plus speakers talking on a wide range of topics to provide a memorable literary experience to the audience,” said Mohammad Asif Riaz, executive director Dosti, and director of the PLF.

Professor Dr Mohammad Rauf, the director of IER, said that this event would help revive critical thinking and study habits among the students and general public.

Besides, he said this event would also play a major role in revival of literary activities and circles in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in general and Peshawar in particular. He said that the IER was pleased to host this event on its premises and act as a catalyst for education and knowledge.

The statement said that in part of preparation for the festival, Dosti and IER had also turned the 250 feet stretch of boundary walls of the institute into one of the world’s longest chalkboards.

It said that as a community-shared activity place, the blackboard provided an opportunity of expressing oneself, their feelings, emotions and creativities through writing, sketches and drawing.

“The main idea of making the blackboard is to give our children, youth and students an opportunity of venting out their energies in something creative, expressive, which underpin their unique personality and intellectual traits and which is acknowledged and celebrated by them as well as by the audience,” it said.

Published in Dawn,May 21st, 2022