3-day OUP Literature Festival To Begin On March 4

Three-day Karachi Literature Festival, being organized by Oxford University Press-Pakistan (OUP) will begin here from March 4

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Mar, 2022 ) :Three-day Karachi Literature Festival, being organized by Oxford University Press-Pakistan (OUP) will begin here from March 4.

At Beach Luxury Hotel, the lovers of literature, culture and the arts will finally get the chance to interact with their favourite literary luminaries, celebrities, academics and scholars as KLF returns as a live event after two days.

The theme of this year's KLF is "Separation, Belonging and Beyond: 75 years of Pakistan," informed OUP Managing Director Arshad Saeed Hussain at a press conference here at Karachi Press Club.

He said the three-day event would explore the country's achievements in its Diamond Anniversary year through a variety of thought-provoking panel discussions and book launches, which would be broadcast live around the world on OUP's social media channels, and bring together over 200 national and international speakers.

He said the keynote speeches would be delivered by Victoria Schofield and Zia Mohyeddin at the inauguration, and Sardar Masood Khan and Hanif Kureshi at the concluding session.

There will be over 60 sessions, including 20 book launches (10 in urdu and 10 in English), with speakers from five countries (Pakistan, United Kingdom , United States, New Zealand and France).

The visitors and the online audience would also have the chance to enjoy Urdu and English poetry readings, a qawwali, feature film screening and the first-ever airing of a series of short films, Let's Heal the World, he said.

A total of 7 literary awards for Pakistani authors will be announced at the opening ceremony. The prizes would recognise pioneering work in Urdu prose and poetry, and English fiction, which are sponsored by Getz Pharma. This year, KLF would also celebrating the diversity of languages and cultures across the country by recognising the best books in Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi and Pashto languages. These awards were supported by the Little Book Company.

Arshad Saeed Husain mentioned how the festival would foster an environment of openness, pluralism and intellectual discourse that would mark a refreshing change from the closures and restrictions of the pandemic.

"Our 13th KLF commemorates not only 75 years of Pakistan but also 70 years of OUP's operations in Pakistan," he said. The OUP had been committed to advancing knowledge, learning and progress in Pakistan since 1952 through our high quality educational material and digital resources for schools and higher education institutions.