Bringing together great minds: Literature festivals bridge gap between Karachi and Manchester

KLF to collaborate with Manchester festival in fall this year

KARACHI: Love for storytelling is a bond that connects both the speakers and the visitors at literature festivals. Bright-eyed young men and women push and shove their way through crowds of literature enthusiasts; they sit on the floor at hour-long sessions and pose questions that sometimes make writers scratch their head.

This buzz at the 7th Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) struck with Manchester Literature Festival (MLF) co-directors, Cathy Bolton and Sarah-Jane Roberts, who attended the literary event in Karachi last weekend. Since the MLF and KLF plan to collaborate with each other this year, the MLF co-directors spent the weekend exploring the various sessions and looking for ways to bring together great minds from the two countries.

"We had a wonderful time. The energy [at KLF] is really special and it is amazing how the audience is incredibly appreciative," said Roberts, during an interview with The Express Tribune. "It is inspiring to see the audience so engaged with the speakers."

What she found fascinating was the debates at these sessions. "Whether it was a panel on cinema or art or poetry, [there were] interesting elements of philosophy. That's something that we take away [from KLF]," she explained. "Each event [session] is asking the bigger question."

For Robert, a successful event is one from which she goes away with a notebook full of quotes, and KLF managed to give her just that.

Bolton appreciated the wide mix of age groups attending the Karachi festival. "We see families at our events too but those are mostly for the family sessions," she said, adding that panel discussions are also not common at MLF.

The format of the Manchester festival is quite different from the one at Karachi, or even Jaipur Literature Festival, said Bolton. The Manchester one is spread over two weeks at different venues. As they celebrated 10 years in 2015, the festival hosted 80 events, she said.



"We don't have a lot of history and politics [during our events]," shared Bolton, adding that their festival comprises mostly novelists, poets and writers of creative memoirs. This is fitting given that MLF takes its roots from Manchester Poetry Festival and "still champions the best poetry from around the globe", said a statement from MLF patron Carol Ann Duffy on the booklet from its 10th birthday. The same booklet includes an excerpt from 'War Stories, Mostly Not Mine' by novelist Kamila Shamsie, who grew up in Karachi.

The co-directors take pride in the avenues they provide to emerging writers. "We feel it is important for them [young writers] to attract an audience, talk about their work," said Roberts. "You find the motivation to carry on when you meet other writers."

Despite the focus on creative writing and fiction, MLF has responded to issues pertinent to the community.

With the refugee crisis in Europe, last year's MLF held some sessions on the issues facing migrants. "We decided it should be talked about," said Roberts.

Once the Manchester and Karachi festivals join hands, there is hope for more UK-based writers to make their way to KLF next year, and vice versa for Pakistani writers going to the UK.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th,  2016.