LLF 2015 Kicks Off Feb. 20

Minhaj Ahmed Rafi

Welcome to LLF 2015.

The annual, three-day Lahore Literary Festival kicks off on Friday, Feb. 20.

The festival’s third edition will feature thought-provoking panel discussions with some of the most insightful voices in the arts and literature, book launches and signings, poetry recitals, musical performances, and art exhibits.

With over 100 tantalizing thinkers from home and abroad—including Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Palestine, the U.S., the U.K., Colombia, Australia—LLF, which celebrates the best of Lahore’s rich and storied cultural traditions, will provide audiences with a stimulating array of ideas and intellectual inquiry.

While the majority of sessions will be conducted in English, audiences will also have the choice of attending discussions in Urdu and Punjabi. The session with writers and poets from Bahawalpur and neighboring cities will be conducted in Seraiki.

Some of this year’s exciting highlights include the launch of author Mohsin Hamid’s Discontent and Its Civilizations and artist-educator Salima Hashmi’s The Eye Still Seeks, discussions with Pakistani-American author Zulfikar Ghose on his seminal 1967 book, The Murder of Aziz Khan, and Peter Oborne on Wounded Tiger, his book on Pakistani cricket.

The full schedule for LLF 2015 will be made public a week prior to the event.

Some 50,000 people attended LLF 2014, which featured, among others, Ahmed Rashid, Ayesha Jalal, F. S. Aijazuddin, Fahmida Riaz, Hugh Eakin, Intizar Hussain, K. Anis Ahmed, Kamila Shamsie, Manju Kapur, Mira Nair, Mishal Husain, Mohammed Hanif, Muneeza Shamsie, Nahid Siddiqui, Naman Ahuja, Omar Shahid Hamid, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Pran Nevile, Rashid Rana, Razia Iqbal, Shahzia Sikander, Sherry Rehman, Shobhaa Dé, Shrabani Basu, Vali Nasr, Vikram Seth, Zehra Nigah, Zia Mohyeddin.

LLF 2015 is a free public event, and seating at all sessions is on a first-come, first-served basis. Audience members are expected to take their seats at least 10 minutes prior to the start of a session; entry to halls where discussions are in session and ongoing will not be permitted. The festival will be held at the Alhamra Arts Center, Mall Road, from Feb. 20-22.

LLF is an independent, not-for-profit organization registered under Pakistan’s Societies Registration Act, 1860.

The International Advisory Committee for LLF 2015 comprises Maina Bhagat of the Apeejay Kolkata Literature Fest, Libby Owen Edmunds of the Galle Literary Festival, Yasmin El-Rifae of the Palestine Festival of Literature, Namita Gokhale of the Jaipur Literature Festival, and Sadaf Saaz Siddiqi of the Dhaka Hay Festival.

For more information, please visit LLF’s website or follow LLF on Twitter.