Status active Frequency Annually Country Pakistan | Date(s) 2010 Location(s) Karachi | |
Venue Carton Hotel (2010 - 2012)
Beach Luxury Hotel (2013 - present) | ||
Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) is an annual international literary festival held in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the first festival of its kind in the country. It is one of the world's youngest and fastest growing literary festivals. Till 2016, seven editions of this festival have been held.
Contents
Founders
The Festival was founded by Ameena Saiyid, OBE, and Dr. Asif Farrukhi.
Organisers
It is jointly organised by Oxford University Press, Pakistan and British Council.
Second Festival
This festival was co-sponsored by the US Consulate in Karachi. The French Consulate in Karachi also sponsored two of the panelists.
Format
The festival consists of literary discussions, book launches, and creative writing workshops. There is also an opportunity to meet authors, book signings and visit a book fair.
Dates
Award
In 2011, the festival organisers announced the Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) Prize for Best Non-Fiction Book in English. The book has to have been published in the preceding year. The award carries a monetary award of Rs. 100,000.
2011
First Festival
The inaugural event was held on 20 March 2010. Amongst the writers who participated were: Aamer Hussein; Mohammad Hanif; Mohsin Hamid; Samina Quraeshi, Fahmida Riaz and Bapsi Sidhwa.
Second Festival
This year's festival participants included: Aamer Hussein; Mohammad Hanif; Mohsin Hamid; Sara Suleri; Tahira Abdullah; Muneeza Shamsie; Noorjehan Bilgrami; Bina Shah; Zahida Hina; Kamila Shamsie; Anita Ghulam Ali; Daniyal Mueenuddin; Yasmeen Hameed; Maleeha Lodhi, Ayesha Siddiqa; Kishwar Naheed; Asif Noorani; Sheema Kirmani; Madeeha Gauhar; Intiaz Hussain; Zehra Nigah; H. M. Naqvi; Ali Sethi; Amjad Islam Amjad; Hassan Dars; Ali Akbar Natiq; Mudassar Bashir; Attiya Dawood and Jean-Luc Racine The plenary session was by Karen Armstrong.
With 2011 declared Year of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, the festival paid tribute to him. The poet's grandson, Ali Madeeh Hashmi, talked about him as did Zehra Nigah and Ali Sethi. The band Laal closed out the festivities.