Karachi Literature Festival (KLF), the first and by far the foremost literature festival in the country, needs no introduction. It has become an integral part of the social and intellectual calendar of this city and, indeed, of the country.
March 1, 2020 5:00 pm
28, 29 February and 1 March 2020
Beach Luxury Hotel, Karachi.
11th Karachi Literature Festival 2020
#KhiLF
10th KLF Speakers
Dr Ishrat Husain is adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Institutional Reforms and Austerity. A former Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, he also served…
Ishrat Husain
Adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan
10th KLF Programme
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Day 1
Mar 1, 2019
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Day 2
Mar 2, 2019
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Day 3
Mar 3, 2019
- Main Garden
- Jasmine
- Aquarius
- Room 007
- Princess
Main Garden
Arrival of Guests
5.00 p.m. -
5.30 p.m.
Main Garden
Welcome Speeches by the Festival Organizers
Speech by the Chief Guest: Honourable Governor Sindh Imran Ismail
5.30 p.m. -
6.00 p.m.
Award announcement: Karachi Literature Festival - Infaq Foundation Best Urdu Literature Prize
Main Garden
Keynote Speeches by Deborah Baker and I. A. Rehman
KLF Recollection Documentary
6.00 p.m. -
7.00 p.m.
Main Garden
Aao Humwatno Raqs Karo
Performance by Sheema Kermani
7.00 p.m. -
7.45 p.m.
Main Garden
Pakistani Cinema
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
7.45 p.m. -
8.45 p.m.
Fahad Mustafa, Mehwish Hayat, Yasir Hussain, Munawar Saeed, Nabeel Qureshi, Asif Raza Mir
Moderator : Ahmed Shah
Jasmine
Documentary: Qalandar Code
Rise of the Divine Feminine
7.45 p.m. -
8.45 p.m.
Atiya Khan, David C.Heath, Syed Mehdi Raza Shah Subzwari
Moderator : Arieb Azhar
Aquarius
Ahmad Faraz: Mohabbat aur Inqalab
7.45 p.m. -
8.45 p.m.
Sarmad Faraz, Hameed Akhund, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Kishwar Naheed
Moderator : Mujahid Barelvi
Room 007
Voices from Far and Near
Poetry in English
7.45 p.m. -
8.45 p.m.
Adrian Husain, Arfa Ezazi, Athar Tahir, Farida Faizullah, Harris Khalique, Ilona Yusuf, Jaffar Khan, Mehvash Amin, Moeen Faruqi, Shireen Haroun
Moderator : Salman Tarek Kureshi
Princess
Book Discussion : The Begum: A Portrait of Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan by Deepa Agarwal and Tahmina Aziz
7.45 p.m. -
8.45 p.m.
Tahmina Aziz, Akbar Liaquat Ali Khan, Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Jr, Javed Aly Khan
Moderator : Muneeza Shamsie
Main Garden
Safr-e-Pakistan: Pakistan's Travelogue in String Puppets by Thespianz Theatre
by Thespianz Theatre (String Puppet)
9.00 p.m. -
9.30 p.m.
- Main Garden
- Jasmine
- Aquarius
- Room 007
- Princess
Main Garden
Filmy Gaanay aur Urdu Shairi
11.00 a.m. -
12.00 noon
Haseena Moin, Arfa Sayeda Zehra and Sultan Arshad
Moderator : Asif Noorani
Jasmine
Book Launch: Defiance of the Rose Selected Poems by Perveen Shakir Translated by Naima Rashid
11.00 a.m. -
12.00 noon
Sheen Farrukh, Naima Rashid and Attiya Dawood
Moderator : Shaheen Salahuddin
Aquarius
The Karachi Dilemma
Conservation or Evolution
11.00 a.m. -
12.00 noon
Marvi Mazhar, Maniza Naqvi, Syed Saif Ur Rehman and Fazal Noor
Moderator : Rumana Husain
Room 007
Safr-e-Pakistan: Pakistan's Travelogue in String Puppets by Thespianz Theatre
11.00 a.m. -
12.00 noon
Main Garden
Urdu Theatre: Kal, Aaj aur Kal
12.15 p.m. -
1.15 p.m.
Sajid Hasan, Zain Ahmed, Kulsoom Aftab and Sheema Kermani
Moderator : Khaled Anum
Jasmine
Complicated Images: The Arab Woman of Today and Tomorrow: A Conversation with Mona Eltahawy
12.15 p.m. -
1.15 p.m.
Moderator : Aliya Iqbal-Naqvi and Naveen Minai
Aquarius
Kashmir
A Political and Cultural Discourse
12.15 p.m. -
1.15 p.m.
Sardar Masood Khan and Anam Zakaria
Moderator : Mujahid Barelvi
Room 007
Safr-e-Pakistan: Pakistan's Travelogue in String Puppets by Thespianz Theatre
12.15 p.m. -
1.15 p.m.
Princess
Shaping Her World
An Indian Woman and the Writing Life
12.15 p.m. -
1.15 p.m.
Manju Kapur in conversation with Afia Aslam
Main Garden
Book Launch: Points of Entry - Encounters at the Origin-Sites of Pakistan by Nadeem Farooq Paracha
1.30 p.m. -
2.00 p.m.
Nadeem Farooq Paracha
Moderator : George Fulton
Jasmine
From Italy to Pakistan: Geography of the Soul
1.30 p.m. -
2.00 p.m.
Elena Nicolai and Aquila Ismail in conversation
Aquarius
Typically Tania: Readings by Taha Kehar
1.30 p.m. -
2.00 p.m.
Room 007
Book Launch: The ARZU Anthology Second Edition
Muneeza Shamsie to launch the anthology
1.30 p.m. -
2.00 p.m.
Areeha Batool, Mariam Taufeeq, Shameneh Majid, Mushba Said and Hafsa Saeed
Moderator : Sabyn Javeri
Princess
Book Launch: Rich People, Poor Country: The Story of Fiscal and Foreign Exchange Policies of Pakistan by Syed Shabbar Zaidi
1.30 p.m. -
2.00 p.m.
Moderator : Farrukh Iqbal
Main Garden
Judicial Activism vs Judicial Restraint
Jamil Yusuf in conversation with Ikram Sehgal and Huma Baqai
2:15 p.m. -
3:15 p.m.
Jasmine
Journey into Europe
Islam, Immigration and Identity
2.15 p.m. -
3.15 p.m.
Amineh Hoti, Shafqat Ali Shah Jamote, and Sardar Masood Khan in conversation
Aquarius
Ahmad Faraz: Mohabbat aur Inqalab
2.15 p.m. -
3.15 p.m.
Inqalab Sarmad Faraz, Hameed Akhund and Wajid Jawad
Moderator : Mujahid Barelvi
Room 007
Publishing 2020 and Beyond
New Trends, Digitization and Technology
2.15 p.m. -
3.15 p.m.
Bilal Zahoor, Arshad Husain, Noman Said
Moderator : Hoori Noorani
Princess
Nayee Nasal Ki Awaaz
Kal Hamara Hai
2.15 p.m. -
3.15 p.m.
Neel Ahmad, Mahin Baloch, Atta ur Rahman, Abdul Rehman Momin
Moderator : Ghazal Ansari
Main Garden
Filbadi Fun with LOL Waalay
3.30 p.m. -
4.30 p.m.
Akbar Chaudhry, Syed Kumail, Zubair Tariq, Sannan Wastani, and Ali Gul Pir
Jasmine
Cultural activism to counter extremism in Sindh
3.30 p.m. -
4.30 p.m.
Noorul Huda Shah, Syed Sardar Ali Shah and Jami Chandio
Moderator : Izhar Soomro
Aquarius
Documentary: These Silences are all the Words
A Film by Madiha Aijaz
3.30 p.m. -
4.30 p.m.
Maheen Zia, Marvi Mazhar and Mohammed Ali Hakeem
Room 007
Book Discussion: The Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack by H.M. Naqvi
3.30 p.m. -
4.30 p.m.
Moderator : Shahid Rassam
Princess
Taneesiat (Feminism)
3.30 p.m. -
4.30 p.m.
Kishwar Naheed
Moderator : Nasim Syed
Princess
Book Launch: Pakistaniat Kiya Hai? by Javed Jabbar
4:00 p.m. -
4:30 p.m.
Moderator : Yasir Qazi
Main Garden
Book Launch
Rethinking Pakistan: A 21st Century Perspective Edited by Bilal Zahoor and Raza Rumi
4.45 p.m. -
5.45 p.m.
Bilal Zahoor, Erum Sattar, I. A. Rehman, and Nadeem Farooq Paracha
Moderator : Mubashir Zaidi
Jasmine
Ghalib-e Nam Avaram 150 Years of Mirza Ghalib
4.45 p.m. -
5.45 p.m.
Syed Nomanul Haq and Khalid Nadeem
Moderator : Aliya Iqbal-Naqvi
Aquarius
Documentary: City by the Sea
The Future of Karachi's Coastline by Mahera Omar followed by a discussion
4.45 p.m. -
5.45 p.m.
Mahera Omar, Javed Mahar, Amber Alibhai, Ahmer Ali Rizvi
Moderator : Mahera Omar
Main Garden
Documentary Premier: Indus Blues
Pakistani folk artists talk about their struggle to keep a fading art form alive while reminding the world what they are about to lose.
6.00 p.m. -
8.00 p.m.
Director and Producer: Jawad Sharif
Jasmine
Mushaira
Ambareen Hasib Amber Aqeel Abbas Jafri, Anwar Shaoor, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Ashfaq Hussain, Fazil Jamili, Ghazal Ansari, Ghazanfar Hashmi, Harris Khalique, Iftikhar Arif, Kishwar Naheed, Nasim Syed, Nasira Zuberi, Peerzada Salman, Pirzada Qasim, Salman Sarwat, Waheed Noor and Yasmeen Hameed
6.00 p.m. -
8.00 p.m.
Aquarius
How Public is Public Art?
6.00 p.m. -
7.00 p.m.
Muhammad Zeeshan, Fariha Amjad Ubaid, Hamna Zubair, Munawar Ali Syed
Moderator : Niilofur Farrukh
Room 007
Dangerous Women in Dangerous Times
6.00 p.m. - -
7.00 p.m.
Rachel Goode, Huma Baqai
Moderator : Anita M. Weiss
Princes
Writing Fiction for the Millennial Market
6:00 p.m. -
7:00 p.m.
Nadya A. R., Maheen Humayun and Taha Kehar
Moderator : Shazia Hasan
Main Garden
Qawwali by Hamza Akram and Brothers
8.00 p.m. -
10.00 p.m.
- Main Garden
- Jasmine
- Aquarius
- Room 007
- Princess
Main Garden
Is today's Media informing society or dumbing it down?
11.00 a.m. -
12.00 noon
Ghazanfar Hashmi, Amna Khaishgi, Azhar Abbas and Ghazi Salahuddin
Moderator : Wusatullah Khan
Jasmine
Hum hee so gaye dastan kehtay kehtay…
Qurratulain Hyder ki yaad mein
11.00 a.m. -
12.00 noon
Azra Abbas, Ahmed Shah and Asad Muhammad Khan
Moderator : Waheed Noor
Aquarius
Ye Kaisa Ishq Hai Urdu Zubaan ka: Urdu Literature/Poetry
Narration by Taimur Rehman
11.00 a.m. -
12.00 noon
Room 007
Book Launch
Sindhi Adab: Aik Mukhtasar Tareekh by Attiya Dawood
11.00 a.m. -
12.00 noon
Attiya Dawood, Amar Sindhu and Shah Muhammad Pirzada
Moderator : Arfana Mallah
Princess
Pakistani English Poetry
Shifting Perspectives
11.00 a.m. -
12.00 noon
Peerzada Salman and Adrian Husain
Moderator : Ilona Yusuf
Main Garden
Book Launch: The Economy of Modern Sindh by Ishrat Husain, Aijaz A. Qureshi, Nadeem Hussain
12.15 p.m. -
1.15 p.m.
Ishrat Husain and Shamshad Akhtar
Moderator : Aijaz A. Qureshi
Jasmine
Book Launch: Rethinking Pakistan: A 21st Century Perspective edited by Bilal Zahoor and Raza Rumi
12.15 p.m. -
1.15 p.m.
Bilal Zahoor, Erum Sattar, I. A. Rehman and Nadeem Farooq Paracha
Moderator : Mubashir Zaidi
Aquarius
Adab aur Mazahmat
12.15 p.m. -
1.15 p.m.
Zehra Nigah and Shahid Rassam in conversation
Room 007
Past and Future Trajectory: Women's Writing in Pakistan
12.15 p.m. -
1.15 p.m.
Sabyn Javeri, Afia Aslam
Moderator : Muneeza Shamsie
Princess
Book Launch:Tun Ghar Chala Ja (Punjabi Kahaniyan) by Maqsood Saqib
Women's Writing in Pakistan
12.15 p.m. -
1.15 p.m.
Inaam Nadeem and Anwer Sen Roy
Moderator : Kashif Raza
Main Garden
Book Launch: No Fortunes to Tell by Harris Khalique
1.30 p.m. -
2.00 p.m.
Bilal Zahoor and Harris Khalique in conversation
Jasmine
Book Launch
Subah ka nashta, shaam ki chai by Imrana Maqsood
1:30 p.m. -
2:00 p.m.
Imrana Maqsood
Moderator : Amra Alam and Hoori Noorani
Aquarius
Book Launch
Hijabistan by Sabyn Javeri
1.30 p.m. -
2.00 p.m.
Sabyn Javeri
Moderator : Afia Aslam
Room 007
Book Launch: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto: The Psychodynamics of his Rise and Fall by Shamim Ahmad
1.30 p.m. -
2.00 p.m.
Moderator : Javed Jabbar
Princess
Countering Violent Extremism in Pakistan: Local Actions, Local Voices
1.30 p.m. -
2.00 p.m.
Anita M. Weiss
Moderator : Salman Tarik Kureshi
Main Garden
TV Drama
Rise and Fall
2.15 p.m. -
3.15 p.m.
Kaif Ghaznavi, Saife Hasan, and Marina Khan
Moderator : Khaled Anam
Jasmine
The Sorrows of Balochistan
2.15 p.m. -
3.15 p.m.
Kaiser Bengali, Ikram Sehgal and Huma Baqai
Moderator : Mujahid Barelvi
Aquarius
Book Launch: Pakistan's Radioactive Decade
An Informal Cultural History of the 1970s Edited by Niilofur Farrukh, Amin Gulgee, and John McCarry
2.15 p.m. -
3.15 p.m.
Amin Gulgee, Khusro Mumtaz, Aquila Ismail, Taimur Suri
Moderator : Niilofur Farrukh
Princess
Book Launch
Always the Guest by Wendy Marijnissen
2.15 p.m. -
3.15 p.m.
Sheema Kermani, Shershah Syed, Wendy Marijnissen
Moderator : Zofeen T. Ebrahim
Room 007
Pakistan's Mental Health Time Bomb: Can it be defused?
2:15 p.m. -
3:15 p.m.
Murad Moosa Khan, Ayesha Mian and Rubeena Kidwai
Moderator : Zarrar Khuhro
Main Garden
Kuch Bhi
A Talk by Anwar Maqsood
3.30 p.m. -
4.30 p.m.
Anwar Maqsood
Jasmine
Documentary Premiere: Indus Blues
Pakistani folk artists talk about their struggle to keep a fading art form alive while reminding the world what they are about to lose.
3.30 p.m. -
4.30 p.m.
Director and Producer: Jawad Sharif
Aquarius
Can Literature Survive the #Hashtag?
3.30 p.m. -
4.30 p.m.
Sanam Maher, Sajeer Shaikh, Jahanzaib Haque, Hamna Zubair
Moderator : Taha Kehar
Room 007
The State and Corporations
Politics of Traditional Music in Pakistan
3.30 p.m. -
4.30 p.m.
Rafay Mahmood, Waqar Ali and Sharif Awan
Moderator : Malahat Awan
Princess
Literature: Transitions and Transformations
3.30 p.m. -
4.00 p.m.
Javed Jabbar
Moderator : Maria Hassan Siddiqui
Princess
Book Launch
Beyond the Fields by Aysha Baqir
4:00 p.m. -
4.30 p.m.
Moderator : Shazia Hasan
Room 007
Celebrating Voices for Change
Mir Gul Khan Naseer (Balochi), Ghani Khan (Pashto), Shaikh Ayaz (Sindhi), Ustad Daman (Punjabi), Mumtaz Haider Dahar (Seraiki)
4.45 p.m. -
5.45 p.m.
Amar Sindhu, Ramazan Baloch and Munir Badini
Moderator : Asghar Nadeem Syed
Main Garden
Noorul Huda Shah and Amar Jaleel in conversation
4.45 p.m. -
5.45 p.m.
Noorul Huda Shah & Amar Jaleel
Jasmine
Premier: Rani
A Short Film about a transgender Pakistani woman who sets out to take care of an abandoned child.
4.45 p.m. -
5.45 p.m.
Hammad Rizvi (Director), Akbar Allana (Producer), Kami Sid and Kiran Edhi
Moderator : Zarrar Khuhro
Aquarius
The Master Performer Reads the Master Humorist Readings from the work of Mushtaq Ahmad Yusfi by Zia Mohyeddin
4.45 p.m. -
5.45 p.m.
Zia Mohyeddin
Princess
Dastaan, Dastak aur Darwazay
Dramatic Readings by Atif Badar
4.45 p.m. -
5.45 p.m.
Atif Badar
Main Garden
Closing Ceremony
Speeches by Arshad Saeed Husain
6.00 p.m. -
6:50 p.m.
Keynote Speeches by: Ishrat Husain and Iftikhar Arif
Main Garden
Performance by Pepsi Battle of the Bands
7.05 p.m. -
- Onwards
Be First resgistration now
Get Ready With The Conference Ticket In Hand or Miss it!
Delegates Registration
The DELEGATE REGISTRATION fee is Rs 5,000 per day per person. If you register for all three days (1, 2, and 3 March 2019), you can avail of a special rate of Rs 10,000 per person
Official Sponsors
