KARACHI: More than 200 Pakistani and 38 international authors will take part in the 99-plus sessions at the 7th Karachi Literature Festival to be held on Feb 5, 6 and 7 at the Beach Luxury Hotel.

This was announced by KLF founder and Oxford University Press managing director Ameena Saiyid at a press conference on Tuesday evening.

Ms Saiyid said since Feb 5 would be a public holiday on account of Kashmir Day, the organisers would have a whole day of activities. This year, she said, there would be five simultaneous sessions. She said the keynote speakers for the opening day were Pervez Hoodbhoy and poet Fahmida Riaz, while a UK-based Islamic scholar, Ziauddin Sardar, and Indian literary critic Rakshanda Jalil would deliver keynote speeches on the closing day.

She said 21 books would be launched at the event.

Talking about prizes for the best books written in the genres of fiction and non-fiction, she said the KLF peace prize winner would be awarded on the second day of the festival.

She said a new category ‘Italy Reads Pakistan’ had been introduced in which a Pakistani book would be selected and translated into Italian. The announcement for it would be made in 2017, she added.

Ms Saiyid said apart from Rakhshanda Jalil, actors Anupam Kher, Nandita Das and Noor Zaheer (daughter of Sajjad Zaheer) would speak at different sessions. She also took some names of international authors representing eight countries. She highlighted sessions on Rumi and Khusrau and said the Pakistani film ‘Manto’ would also be screened in the presence of its cast and crew. She also thanked all the sponsors of the event.

KLF co-founder Asif Farrukhi said when seven years back Ms Saiyid and him first thought about organising the event they were not sure as to how many people would turn up for it. Some 5,000 people came in the first year, he said, and the number kept on increasing, so much so that now people often phoned him to inquire about when the festival was going to be held.

He said every year they tried to do something different and the objective was to discuss important issues, such as this year it would be helpful to know as to what the situation in Tharparkar was or what was Pakistan’s official language.

German consul-general Rainer Schmiedchen said Germany was proud to be associated with the KLF. He said not only the German consulate but the Goethe Institut was involved in the event. He talked about the German peace prize winner that would be awarded on Feb 6 in one of the pre-lunch sessions. He said the award would be given to an outstanding work of literature that promoted peace and interfaith harmony. He then informed the media on the various literary prizes given in Germany.

The deputy head of mission of the UK High Commission, Steve Crossman, said the high commission was pleased to be part of the KLF. He said the UK had been associated with it since the beginning. He said reading was the greatest gift of education and added that he was looking forward to an exciting, vibrant programme.

Fahad Qadir of Coca Cola, Dr Hina Kazmi of the USAID Pakistan Reading Project and Ahmed Shah of the Arts Council Karachi also spoke.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2016