The two-day 4th Adab Festival will be held next month at Frere Hall which will be attended by national and international speakers, the organisers told the media on Monday.
Talking to the media at the Frere Hall, Ameena Saiyid, the founder of the Adab Festival, said, "The theme of the festival is Climate Change.
"Literature is undervalued in Pakistan and we need to think of it as 'ivory tower stuff for the elite'. Through Adab Festival which is free and open for all we want everyone in the community to love, experience and enjoy literature," Saiyid said.
She said that around 100 speakers from the USA, UK, France and other countries will participate in the event.
She said that the Karachi Literature Festival has become a movement in Pakistan. "It is being organised everywhere - from Ghotki to Peshawar."
She further mentioned, "There will be a stand for the children so that they can also learn reading books."
Jovan Ilic, the Deputy Directorate British Council Pakistan said, "We are pleased to support the Adab Festival on the theme of climate change." He said that festival will have the wonderful ability to create safe 'exciting' spaces.
Environmentalist Tariq Alexander Qaiser said that the theme of the festival was close to his heart. "This will be an interactive and participatory event," he added.
"The theme of the festival is an issue not only of Pakistan but the whole world," Habib University's Afzal Syed said.
Habib University President Wasif Rizvi said Pakistan will soon be "unliveable for humans". Extreme weather events - disastrous rains, lethal floods, devastating droughts and heatwaves - have made such unimaginable catastrophe a lived reality for the people of Pakistan. "We considers it our responsibility to initiate critical discourse highlighting the severity of such existential threats."
Zubeida Mustafa said that cultural festivals have educational importance. They have a profound impact on a community. They create harmony, cohesion and, when they are inclusive, a sense of equality and goodwill.
The speakers said that the Adab Festival will introduce new, innovative, creative approaches to promoting books, reading habits, authors, raising awareness of climate change by entertaining and engaging the audience through diaries, presentations, readings, debates, comedy, music, song, art, and dance.
The speakers at the festival include Federal Minister Sherry Rahman, Zehra Nigah, Kishwar Naheed, Bina Shah, Natalia Gul, Mahira Khan and others.
A number of books will also be launched such as 1946, The Last War of Independence, and The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny etc.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2022.
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