Humour: Dramatic reading of humorous pieces entertains audience

LAHORE:

Peals of laughter rang out in the halls of Alhamra Arts Council as poets and writers recited humorous articles and pieces on the second day of the Fourth Alhamra International Literature and Cultural Conference on Sunday.

The session on humour was moderated by TV anchor Gharida Farooqui and presided over by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervez Rasheed. Dr Younas Javaid was the chief guest. The panellists included columnist Ataul Haq Qasmi, poet Ikramul Haq Javed, writer Gul-i-Nokhaiz Akhtar, actors Shujat Hashmi and Qindeel Jafri. Akhtar read out his article Talaq Nama. Hashmi recited an article by Shafiqur Rehman. Jafri gave a dramatic reading of a piece by Mushtaq Ahmed Yousafi.  Haq read out snippets of humorous poetry throughout the event keeping the audience entertained.

Bookstalls

A large crowd had gathered around the book stalls set up at the conference. Books on science, fiction, literature, sports and cooking were displayed.

Akbar Ali, a master’s student at the Punjab University, said some of the books were not easily available at bookstores he visited regularly.

Lahore Arts Council Director Tanya Qureshi said, “We arranged the book stalls to motivate young people to read books...the purpose is to revive the habit of reading.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2013.