At least 3,000 people are expected to attend the Lyari Literature Festival. (Representational Image) (Photo: File)
KARACHI: The first-ever two-day Lyari Literature Festival (LLF) is set to commence tomorrow (Saturday). Prominent speakers and experts from various fields will participate in 23 sessions over the two-day festival.
The mega event is being held on the premises of the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University Lyari (BBSUL) located between Mola Madad Chowk and Cheel Chowk.
The topics for the panel discussions on the first day include Lyari and Politics, history of Lyari and Karachi, the role of universities in shaping the mind, women's participation in art, literature and culture, the literature of mother languages in Pakistan and displacement of minorities.
On the second day, the panellists will discuss issues such as how fake news affects society and art, artists and institutions. The panellists will also discuss the role of literary, art and social institutions to counter violent extremism, youth political activism, Karachi as a concrete jungle, role of contemporary children's literature in character building, Lyari and sports. The topics of women's contribution to creating a peaceful society and modern trends of Balochi literature have also been included in the first LLF.
A qawwali session by the Hamza Brothers will be held on the first day while a documentary on Gwadar will be screened. Theatre performances, storytelling, book inaugural sessions and poetry sessions, including Urdu Mushaira have also been arranged in the festival.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, LLF's programme coordinator Parveen Naz said that capacity building workshops for students and various sessions for children will also be held during the two-day festival. "Men, women, children, students and people from all walks of life will participate in the festival," she said, adding that at least 3,000 people are being expected to attend the event.
"We want to tell the world what Lyari is and why it's different from the rest of the city," Naz said. "We cordially invite people from all corners of the city to join us and witness the real face of Lyari that is the mother of this city."
The panelists include Taj Haider, Dr Wahid Baloch, Dr Akhtar Baloch, Wusatullah Khan, Dr Manzoor Baloch, Gul Hasan Kalmati, Dr Kaleem Ullah Lashari, Dr Riaz Shaikh, Dr Saleem Memon, Dr Uzma Qadri, Seema Maheshwari, Dr Touseef Ahmed, Dr Irfan Aziz, Anjum Parvaiz and Naheed Israr, among others.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2019.
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