Motivation of the motivators

ISLAMABAD:

A panel of writers along with the US embassy’s cultural attaché sat down to discuss the role of art and culture in diplomacy. 

The panelists included Pulitzer winning novelist Paul Harding, South Asia Fiction prize nominee Bilal Tanweer, founder of Theatre Walay Fizza Hassan and cultural attaché from the US Embassy Judith Ravin. The session was moderated by Ayesha Fazlur Rahman.

The essence of the talk highlighted the universal truth that art being an expression of the soul will inevitably touch hearts and blur the divide of geographical borders.

The session began with a discussion on conveying a message via art. All writers agreed that when they consciously aim to convey a message while writing, directing a play or painting a picture, it goes in vain because it seems forceful. And a forceful message would be more propaganda than art.

“It is that feeling when somebody reads my books and says this is something I know is true, and it is something I always knew but could never put into words,” said Harding, author of a Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Tanveer said in response to a question of what about his art gives him a sense of achievement.

Ravin, who happens to be a writer, said “Being a diplomat I travel a lot and I experience so many different realities that are so unique that I feel a yearning to share it with the world. And when my writings expand the mind of readers, that is what inspires me most as a writer.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2015.