All booked out: And then KLF said, 'let there be literature'

The fifth literature festival in city will feature 216 authors from 11 countries and 28 new books.

KARACHI:

February has started and the Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) is upon us and promises to be bigger and better than ever before.

As co-founders Ameena Saiyid and Asif Farrukhi glided into the room along with the chief sponsors, a hushed silence fell. Saiyid started the press conference by listing what to expect from the festival this year - more than 100 sessions, 182 national and 34 international authors from 11 different countries, 28 new books and a marked increase on last year's attendance of 50,000.



"For the first time, KLF will feature three awards in different categories," the festival director, Saiyid, added. "The first is for the best book to promote peace and harmony while the other two are for the best book in fiction and non-fiction categories."

Saiyid's fellow cofounder Asif Farrukhi then took centre stage and said that the KLF has become a regular feature on people's annual calendars. "People look forward to this event all year and harass me and Ameena for the details."

Farrukhi then went on to talk about the importance of celebrating diversity. "Not only do we have numerous international authors this year, but we also have a lot of diversity among Pakistani authors as well," the cofounder pointed out. "For the first time, KLF will also feature Baloch and Persian literature in the country."

Keeping with the theme of diversity, Farrukhi said that translations are important in order to globalise Pakistani literature. "Ab main ap logo ko translation workshops ke baray main batata chalun, jo is saal organise keri hain hum ne [Let me tell you guys about the translation workshops being organised this year]," he said, pointedly changing to Urdu when talking about the translation workshops and the importance of translation to Pakistani literature.

Amidst applause, he then handed the microphone over to German Consul-General Dr Tilo Klinner, who spoke mainly about the €3,000 award for the best book promoting peace and harmony, informing the audience that it has been awarded in Germany since 1951. "The beginning of the award can be traced back to the European civil war, more commonly known as the Second World War," he added cheekily, a mischievous grin on his face.

Dr Klinner then praised KLF and how it is helping the country by improving its global image. "KLF is a counter-narrative to all the negative stories about the city and the country as a whole," he said. "Last year, it was mentioned in one of the leading German newspapers, which is a big deal for a literature festival." The consul-general also announced the three-book shortlist for the peace award and revealed that the winner will be announced during the festival.

Saiyid then called Muneeza Shamsie onto the stage to announce the three-book shortlist for the best book in the fiction category. Followed by the winners for the best non-fiction book was also announced.

As one sponsor after another was called onto stage by Saiyid and the crowd slowly started to get restless, one of the sponsors endeared himself to the crowd by politely answering: "No, I'm good," when he was called on stage. The polite refusal signalled the end of the speakers and a brief question-and-answer session followed. The organisers informed that the fiction prize winner will win a fully sponsored return trip to the Paris Book Fair, while the winner of the non-fiction award will win Rs300,000. To which a man snorted and exclaimed "Teen lakh main kia hoga [What will someone do with only Rs300,000?]."

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2014.