KARACHI: As the Karachi Literature Festival’s (KLF) 14th edition concluded on Sunday, the event’s festival director Rahila Bukhari said organizers aimed to draw the youth toward books in an age when there are many distractions on digital and electronic media.
According to its website, the KLF describes itself as “the first and by far the foremost” literature festival that has become an integral part of Pakistan’s social and intellectual calendar. The three-day annual festival was held from February 17-19 on the theme “People, Planet and Possibilities.”
The festival features talks and discussions by literary figures from eight countries including Pakistan, the UK, the US, Canada, and France. Over 200 speakers participated in around 60 sessions while the event also featured 24 book launches, both in English and Urdu.
All the sessions were live-streamed for viewers in Pakistan and around the world.
In line with this year’s theme, plenty of KLF sessions featured discussions on the environment, climate change, education, and the economy.
“It’s an awareness for people to learn about the circumstances we are going through. The world is going through an economic recession and we are trying to create awareness around that too,” Bukhari told Arab News.
At least four people were killed on Friday when a Pakistani Taliban suicide squad stormed a police compound in the city. A gunbattle between militants and security forces raged for hours before the compound was recaptured. Bukhari said the response on Saturday was a bit “lukewarm” due to the incident.
“The response has been really good today [Sunday],” Bukhari said. “Yesterday, it was a bit lukewarm due to the incident [in Karachi] from the previous night [Friday]. Half the people were apprehensive whether [they wanted] to leave the house or not,” she added.
Bukhari said organizers were trying to pull the youth toward books and literature for the past 14 years, adding that there were many distractions on digital and electronic media in the current era.
“When they [the youth] meet authors, get books, and get them signed by authors, they are interested to read as well,” she said. “It’s a very slow process of pulling our youth toward literature,” Bukhari added.
She said KLF had slowly evolved over the years, describing it as “one of the largest and most anticipated literature festivals in Pakistan.”
“This is its success. As organizers of Pakistan’s first and foremost literature festival, we aim to introduce something new and good to it every year and have a fruitful discussion and discourse,” she added.
Bukhari hopes to invite literary figures from India next year, which hasn’t been possible for the past couple of years due to “political conditions” of the two countries.
“The most prominent thing I noticed this year [at KLF] is that there is a huge focus on environmentalism and climate, compared to the previous sessions,” Aqdas Fatima, an anthropologist, told Arab News.
However, she added that KLF “used to be” a place for literature enthusiasts, adding that this year’s edition did not feature a lot of talks with fiction authors.
“I see fiction dying down in at least Pakistani literature,” she added.
Retired English Literature Professor Dr. Ambreen Kazi, however, told Arab News the festival is one of the most effective ways to “make reading and writing popular”.
“You can see people from all walks of life make it a point to come here every year,” she said. “It’s open to all and it’s free. There are books, there are discussions, and there are opportunities to meet people and to meet writers,” Kazi said.
“It is an absolutely fabulous, fantastic legacy and I have been coming [to KLF] since the very first one,” she added.
