About Karachi Literature Festival

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.

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14th KLF Speakers

Ahmed Rashid is a Pakistani journalist based in Lahore, who has covered Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia for a variety of publications since 1979. He is the author…
Ahmed Rashid

Ahmed Rashid

Damon Galgut was born in 1963 in Pretoria, South Africa. He has published nine books. He has been shortlisted for many prizes, on three occasions for the Booker…
Damon Galgut

Damon Galgut

Iftikhar Arif is a prominent Urdu poet, scholar, and literary personality. Several collections of Iftikhar Arif’s poetry have been published, including the rendition of his poetry into English,…
Iftikhar Arif

Iftikhar Arif

Michael Kugelman is director of the Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute. He was previously Asia Program deputy director and senior associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center.…
Michael Kugelman

Michael Kugelman

Noorul Huda Shah is a well-known and respected short story writer, playwright, poet, columnist, and broadcaster. Presently, she is Joint Secretary of the Pakistan Arts Council Karachi. She…
Noorul Huda Shah

Noorul Huda Shah

Shehan Karunatilaka is the winner of the 2022 Booker Prize for his second novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida (published as The Birth Lottery in India). He…
Shehan Karunatilaka

Shehan Karunatilaka

Senator Sherry Rehman is Pakistan’s Federal Minister of Climate Change, Vice President of the UNEA, and founding chair of the Jinnah Institute, an Islamabad think tank committed to…
Sherry Rehman

Sherry Rehman

Sinan Antoon is a poet, novelist, scholar, and translator. He was born and raised in Baghdad, Iraq and left after the 1991 Gulf War. He holds degrees from Baghdad,…
Sinan Antoon

Sinan Antoon

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14th KLF Programme

  • Day 1

    Feb 17, 2023

  • Day 2

    Feb 18, 2023

  • Day 3

    Feb 19, 2023

  • Main Garden
  • Jasmine
  • Aquarius Hall
  • Room 007
* *

Main Garden

سخن افتخار : کلیات افتخارعارف

Iftikhar Arif, Nasir Abbas Nayyar, Zia ul Hassan, Hoori Noorani
7.00 p.m. - 8.00 p.m.
Moderator : Peerzada Salman
* *

Jasmine

A Bank is Born

Ishrat Husain, Syed Salim Raza, Shamshad Akhtar, Nadeem Hussain, and Akbar Zaidi
7.00 p.m. - 8.00 p.m.
Moderator : Naureen Hyat
* *

Aquarius Hall

Faiza Butt and Adeela Suleman in conversation with Shehnaz Ismail

7.00 p.m. - 8.00 p.m.
* *

Room 007

Reverberations: Poetry in English

Krisha Kops, Sophia Bano, Minaa Shahzad, Jeeva Haroun, Maha Hashmi, Zarmina Raza, Harris Khalique, Shireen Haroun, and Adrian Husain
7.00 p.m. - 8.00 p.m.
Moderator : Salman Kureshi
* *

Aquarius Hall

Schedule for Divvy Film Festival:

8.30 p.m. - 11.00 p.m.

8:40 p.m. Baira Garakh - Mehreen Jabbar; 8:59 p.m. Sinf e Taal - Amna Maqbool; 9:12 p.m. The Land of My Forefathers - Irfan Noor; 9:35 p.m. A Night with Noorjehan - Mariam Majid; 9:48 p.m. Dayal Among the Spirits - Syed Muneeb Kazmi; 10:15 p.m. Sea Birds - Saweera Jahan & Puffball Studios; 10:25 p.m. B FOR NAOO - Roofi Kashfi; 10:45 p.m. Ramz - Daniyal Najam; 11:00 p.m. Q & A

  • Main Garden
  • Jasmine Hall
  • Aquarius Hall
  • Room 007
* *

Main Garden

بیادرفتگان: ضیاء محی الدین ، امجد اسلام امجد ،امداد حُسینی اور مسعود اشعر

Iftikhar Arif, Kishwar Naheed, Zehra Nigah, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Zia ul Hassan, Sahar Imdad, Noorul Huda Shah, Attiya Dawood, and Harris Khalique
11.00 a.m. - 12.00 noon
Moderator : Inaam Nadeem and Amar Pirzado
* *

Jasmine Hall

Vulnerability and Resilience: Climate and Communities

Afia Salam, Zohra Yusuf, Bilal Zahoor, and Qazi Khizar
11.00 a.m. - 12.00 noon
Moderator : Farah Zia
* *

Aquarius Hall

The Lahooti of Sindh: A Photographic Journey

Matthieu Paley and Piru Saein
11.00 a.m. - 12.00 noon
Moderator : Haya Fatima Iqbal
* *

Room 007

Workshop: Community Healing Circle

Conducted by Rassheedah Watts
10.00 a.m. - 11.00 a.m.

Pre-registration required

* *

Room 007

Caring Culture: Student-Teacher Wellbeing

Shelina Bhamani, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Faiza Mushtaq, and Minhas Tejani
11.00 a.m. - 12.00 noon
Moderator : Neda Mulji
* *

Main Garden

The Social Butterfly: From London to Lahore

Moni Mohsin in conversation with Taha Kehar
12.15 p.m. - 1.15 p.m.
* *

Jasmine Hall

A Piece of the Moon

Javed Jabbar, Nomanul Haq, and Peter Coughlin
12.15 p.m. - 1.15 p.m.
Moderator : Harris Khalique
* *

Aquarius Hall

Seven Moons of Maali Almeida: A tale of pathos, humor and satire...

Shehan Karunatilaka in conversation with Safinah Danish Elahi
12.15 p.m. - 1.15 p.m.
* *

Room 007

Ways of Being: Creative Non-Fiction by Pakistani Women

Sabyn Javeri in conversation with Saba Karim Khan
12.15 p.m. - 1.15 p.m.
* *

Main Garden

For Faith, State and the Soul: A History of Pop Culture in Pakistan

Nadeem Farooq Paracha in conversation with George Fulton
1.30 p.m. - 2.00 p.m.
* *

Jasmine Hall

پھرتا ہے فلک برسوں

Asghar Nadeem Syed in conversation with Hameed Shahid
1.30 p.m. - 2.00 p.m.
* *

Aquarius Hall

جنوبی ایشیا کی منتخب نظمیں

Yasmeen Hameed in conversation with Tanveer Anjum
1.30 p.m. - 2.00 p.m.
* *

Room 007

Sindh Under the Mughals: Origin and Development of Historiography (1591-1737 CE)

Humera Naz and Michel Boivin
1.30 p.m. - 2.00 p.m.
Moderator : Zahra Sabri
* *

Main Garden

Invasive Media: Right to Privacy

Asma Shirazi, Zarrar Khuhro, and Mazhar Abbas
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.
Moderator : Wajahat Saeed Khan
* *

Jasmine Hall

EdTech: The New Normal

Mahboob Mahmood, Jehan Ara, Arshad Saeed Husain, and Ehsan Saya
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.
Moderator : Tasneem Anwar
* *

Aquarius Hall

Big Capital in an Unequal World: The Micropolitics of Wealth in Pakistan

Rosita Armytage and Ishrat Husain
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.
Moderator : Zahid Hussain
* *

Room 007

سب افسانہ ہے :حمید شاہد کی نگار شات پر مکالمہ

Hameed Shahid, Mubeen Mirza, Asghar Nadeem Syed, and Nasir Abbas Nayyar
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.
Moderator : Ambareen Hasib Amber
* *

Main Garden

ہم سنگین مزاق کی لپیٹ میں ہیں

Mustafa, Murtaza, and Faysal aka Banana Boys in conversation with Shehzad Ghias Shaikh
3.30 p.m. - 4.30 p.m.
* *

Jasmine Hall

Getz Pharma EACPE Film Awards 2022: Unearthing Cultures of Pakistan

Khalid Ahmed, Saife Hasan, Bakhtawar Mazhar, Yasra Rizvi, Maha Hasan, Khalid Mahmood
3.30 p.m. - 4.30 p.m.
* *

Aquarius Hall

The Current Crisis: Constitutional or Political

Makhdoom Ali Khan, Raza Rabbani, and Hamid Khan
3.30 p.m. - 4.30 p.m.
Moderator : Mujahid Barelvi
* *

Room 007

Heer Waris Shah (English Translation)

Sarwat Mohiuddin in conversation with Harris Khalique and Khaled Anam
3.30 p.m. - 4.30 p.m.
* *

Main Garden

Book Launch: Gluco Kahani

Bilal Maqsood
4.45 p.m. - 5.45 p.m.
* *

Jasmine Hall

Pakistan: Statecraft and Geopolitics in Today’s World

Ahmed Rashid, and Michael Kugelman
4.45 p.m. - 5.45 p.m.
Moderator : Amber Rahim Shamsi
* *

Aquarius hall

Between the Arab and the Anglophone World

Sinan Antoon in conversation with Farah Zia
4.45 p.m. - 5.45 p.m.
* *

Room 007

قافلہء سخت جاں

Kishwar Naheed in conversation with Bee Gul and Inaam Nadeem
4.45 p.m. - 5.45 p.m.
* *

Main Garden

پاکستانی ڈراما : کہاں سے آیا کہاں گیا وہ

Bee Gul, Nadeem Baig, Behroze Sabzwari, Shameem Hilaly, and Shahzad Sheikh
6.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.
Moderator : Raju Jamil
* *

Jasmine Hall

Promise, Reality and Time

Damon Galgut in conversation with Muneeza Shamsie
6.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.
* *

Aquarius Hall

Pakistan’s Wars: An Alternative History

Jaffar Ahmad, Tariq Rahman, and Bilal Zahoor
6.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.
Moderator : Shaheen Salahuddin
* *

Room 007

عصر حاضر کی نسائی شاعر ی

Yasmeen Hameed, Hameeda Shaheen, and Nasira Zuberi
6.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.
Moderator : Bibi Ameena
* *

Main Garden

Feature Film Screening: Quaid-i-Azam Zindabad

7.15 p.m. - 8.15 p.m.
* *

Jasmine Hall

مشاعرہ

Sadarat: Iftikhar Arif, Nizamat: Nasira Zuberi
7.15 p.m. - 8.45 p.m.

Sani Syed, Salman Sarwat, Waheed Noor, Ahmed Atta, Peerzada Salman, Fazil Jamili, Harris Khalique, Tanveer Anjum, Hameeda Shaheen, Yasmeen Hameed, Ashfaq Hussain, Afzal Ahmad Syed, Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, Anwar Shaoor, and Kishwar Naheed

* *

Aquarius Hall

Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family

Rabia Chaudry in conversation with Christie Marie Lauder
7.15 p.m. - 8.15 p.m.
* *

Room 007

اردو کا وقار بڑھانے میں اکیسویں صدی کے طریقہ ہاۓ تدریس کا کردار

Farid Panjwani, Uzma Farman, and Romeena Kureishy in conversation
7.15 p.m. - 8.15 p.m.
* *

Aquarius Hall

Schedule for Divvy Film Festival

8.30 p.m. - 11.00 p.m.

8:40 p.m. Lahooti - Matthieu Paley & Sebastian Feehan 8:49 p.m. Quetta’s Old Men’s Garden - Soch Videos 8:59 p.m. Stay Tuned - Ali Mehdi 9:28 p.m. Delirium - Ahmed Sameer 9:35 p.m. One Way Glass - Nauman Khalid 9:55 p.m. Kanrach - Uzair Surhio 10:08 p.m. My Mother’s Daughter - Ahmen Khawaja & Mariam Khan 10:25 p.m. Stray Dogs Come Out at Night - Hamza Bangash 10:40 p.m. Q & A Session

  • Main Garden
  • Jasmine Hall
  • Aquarius Hall
  • Room 007
* *

Main Garden

Cricket in Pakistan: Nation, Identity, and Politics

Wasim Akram, Ali Khan, Sohaib Alvi, Ahmer Naqvi, and Hadeel Obaid
11.00 a.m. - 12.00 noon
Moderator : Nadeem Farooq Paracha
* *

Jasmine Hall

Faith & Intellect

Kaiser Bengali, Syed Salim Raza and Syed Shabbar Zaidi
11.00 a.m. - 12.00 noon
Moderator : Ghazi Salahuddin
* *

Aquarius Hall

Pathway to Development: Liberal Arts Education

Anjum Halai, Shoaib Zaidi, and Nadya Qamar Chishty-Mujahid
11.00 a.m. - 12.00 noon
Moderator : Mehtab S. Karim
* *

Room 007

فطرت کی تعظیم اورہماری شعری روایت

Afzal Ahmed Syed, Attiya Dawood, Sarwat Mohiuddin, and Ahmed Atta
11.00 a.m. - 12.00 noon
Moderator : Inaam Nadeem
* *

Main Garden

Untangling South Asia

Michael Kugelman and Ikram Sehgal in conversation
12.15 p.m. - 1.15 p.m.
* *

Jasmine Hall

Climate Justice & Embedded Injustices

Ahmad Shabbar, Zoha Tunio, Afia Salam, and Matthieu Paley
12.15 p.m. - 1.15 p.m.
Moderator : Maha Husain
* *

Aquarius Hall

Saints, Sufis and Shrines: The Mystical Landscape of Sindh

Mehdi Raza Shah Subzwari, Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro, Michel Boivin, and Reema Abbasi
12.15 p.m. - 1.15 p.m.
Moderator : Ghazala Rahman Rafiq
* *

Room 007

History, Memory, Fiction: New Dimensions in Contemporary Pakistani and Kashmiri Writings

David Waterman in conversation with Muneeza Shamsie
12.15 p.m. - 1.15 p.m.
* *

Room 007

The Voice of the Left

Stephen M. Lyon and Nadir Cheema
12.15 p.m. - 1.15 p.m.
Moderator : Syed Jaffar Ahmad
* *

Main Garden

Insecure Guardians: Enforcement, Encounters and Everyday Policing in Postcolonial Karachi

Omar Shahid Hamid and Zoha Waseem
1.30 p.m. - 2.00 p.m.
Moderator : Mahim Maher
* *

Jasmine Hall

Companion to Pakistani Cuisine

Shanaz Ramzi in conversation with Rumana Husain
1.30 p.m. - 2.00 p.m.
* *

Aquarius Hall

The Equitable Tax

Shamim Ahmad in conversation with Javed Jabbar
1.30 p.m. - 2.00 p.m.
* *

Room 007

The Silk Road and Beyond: Narratives of a Muslim Historian

Iftikhar H. Malik and Nomanul Haq
1.30 p.m. - 2.00 p.m.
Moderator : Huma Baqai
* *

Main Garden

Search for Peace and Security among Neighbours

Michael Kugelman, Zahid Hussain, and Athar Abbas
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.
Moderator : Shaheen Salahuddin
* *

Jasmine Hall

Rising Expectations: Pakistan’s Judiciary in Focus

Maqbool Baqar, Hamid Khan, and Palvasha Shahab
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.
Moderator : Faisal Siddiqi
* *

Aquarius Hall

Between Quarantine and Quest: A Bilingual Anthology of Art, Poetry and Writings

Naila Mahmood and Syed Kashif Raza
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.
Moderator : Asma Mundrawala

Readings by Yogeshwar Karera and Raana Kazmi

* *

Room 007

پو ٹھو ہار: خطۂ دل ربا

Shahid Siddiqui in conversation with Nasira Zuberi
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.
* *

Room 007

Lisaniyat aur Lughat Naweesi ki Surat e Haal

Moinuddin Aqeel and Bibi Ameena
2.15 p.m. - 3.15 p.m.
Moderator : Mubeen Mirza
* *

Main Garden

Evolving Geopolitics: Impact on Pakistan

Rabia Akhtar, Huma Baqai, Ghias Khan, and Niels Hegewisch
3.30 p.m. - 4.30 p.m.
Moderator : Ejaz Haider
* *

Jasmine Hall

Education Policies in Pakistan: Politics, Projections and Practices

Tariq Rahman, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Farid Panjwani, and Salma Alam
3.30 p.m. - 4.30 p.m.
Moderator : Shahid Siddiqui
* *

Aquarius Hall

Dramatic Readings of Mushtaq Ahmad Yusufi’s Aur Aana Ghar mein Murgiyon Ka and Patras Bukhari’s Bache aur Kuttay

Qadeer Ahmed, Muhammad Shafiq, Riaz Baloch and Sidra
3.30 p.m. - 4.10 p.m.
* *

Aquarius Hall

Dramatic Readings

Ibn-e-Insha’s Zara fone karloon and Ashraf Sabuhi Dehlavi’s Dastaan e Ghummi Kababie - Atif Badar
4.10 p.m. - 4.30 p.m.
* *

Room 007

This Side of the River

Ahmed Rashid in conversation with Zarmina Raza
3.30 p.m. - 4.30 p.m.
* *

Room 007

اک راستہ ہے زندگی

Rafi Mustafa in conversation with Akhlaq Ahmed
3.30 p.m. - 4.30 p.m.
* *

Main Garden

From Silver Screen to Mini Screen: Goldmine of OTT Media

Faseeh Bari Khan, Sarwat Gilani, and Sanam Saeed
4.45 p.m. - 5.45 p.m.
Moderator : Safinah Danish Elahi
* *

Jasmine Hall

Lost to the World: A Memoir of Faith, Family and Five Years in Terrorist Captivity

Shahbaz Taseer in conversation with Ayesha Tammy Haq
4.45 p.m. - 5.45 p.m.
* *

Aquarius Hall

Courageous Leadership: A Need for D&I

Rassheedah Watts and Krisha Kops
4.45 p.m. - 5.45 p.m.
Moderator : Sidra Iqbal
* *

Room 007

The Writers Square

Shehan Karunatilaka, Damon Galgut, and Sinan Antoon
4.45 p.m. - 5.45 p.m.
Moderator : Maniza Naqvi
* *

Main Garden

Doosri Mulaqat

Anwar Maqsood and Imrana Maqsood in conversation with Ahmed Shah
6.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.
* *

Jasmine Hall

Pakistan’s Economy: Depth and Resilience

Miftah Ismail, Akbar Zaidi, Azfar Ahsan, Muhammad Aurangzeb, and Maheen Rahman
6.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.
Moderator : Samiullah Siddiqui
* *

Aquarius Hall

Centrism and its Discontents

Zarrar Khuhro and Amber Rahim Shamsi
6.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.
Moderator : Nadeem Farooq Paracha
* *

Room 007

بلوچی زبان و ادب کے فروغ میں کراچی کا کردار

Raheem Mehr, Hani Baloch, and A. R. Daad
6.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m.
Moderator : Waheed Noor
* *

Closing Ceremony

Keynote Speeches by: Shehan Karunatilaka and Ahmed Rashid
7.15 p.m. - 8.00 p.m.

Vote of Thanks by: Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO, HBL; Arshad Saeed Husain, Managing Director, Oxford University Press Pakistan

* *

Concert by Noori Band

8.00 p.m. - -

Download KLF 2023 Programme

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